Review of Sleep Dealer

What is: Connection and Disparity in Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer

Alex Rivera’s Sleep Dealer combines what was and what will be and brilliantly shows us what “is.” In this original brand of science fiction, Rivera shows us a future that takes into account current political discord over the Mexican–U.S. border as well as the all-too-believable next steps in the existing exploitation of third world nations.

And Rivera’s directorial debut goes beyond its political impetus. In the story of three people—Memo Cruz (Luis Fernando Pena), a migrant worker from a campesino in Oaxaca, Mexico, Luz (Leonor Varela), a beautiful and intelligent writer, and Rudy (Jacob Vargas), a soldier who controls jets from afar—who come together following their dreams, their guilt, and their hearts, Rivera captures what is at the heart of the human experience: connection.

Connection is the thread that weaves through the world of Sleep Dealer, in which the very essence of life—water, paralleled both literally and metaphorically with the human soul—is for sale. Water isn’t all that is bought and sold. Luz sells her memories. And in one of Rivera’s most poignant demonstrations of how technology, while it connects people, also widens the disparity between them, Memo sells his “energy”—working remotely to provide cheap labor and send money home to his family.

The film’s visual beauty works well with its terrific special effects; this duality is what makes the future world so believable. Filmed in Mexico, the crisp, colorful scenery is the perfect juxtaposition to the dark, neon-filled world of the node clubs. Fields of corn stalks waving in the wind, the rich soil and painted rocks of the Mexican desert work well against the eerily psych ward-like starkness of the factories where workers risk blindness as well as utter exhaustion.

Sleep Dealer is ambitious, both in its message and its delivery. And Rivera pulls both off well. Viewers can’t help but lose themselves in the world of the film, where cutting-edge technology and ancient cultures blend organically to show us a future that is far too close.

Posted on 01/30/08 by: hollystarley 01:32 PM