Desierto | Austin Film Festival Review

Desierto is a dramatically terrorizing chase film that’s truly unforgiving on nearly all of it’s characters.  It’s brutal, loud and primal enough to match the likes of a Tarrentino with out the witty banter and long winded speeches.

Gael García Bernal plays a man who eventually leads a small group border crossing immigrants in to the United States.  Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a rifle-wielding, alt-right vigilante who decides to brutally snipe off each member of the group one by one.  From nearly the very beginning, the film is dark and unnerving filled with relentless scenes of death.

The film makes no apologies of social morals or it’s racist rampage of immigrants and the film sometimes flirts with several life or death scenarios that will even make you wish someone would kill the dog until the inevitable satisfying ending.

You won’t see Desierto in theaters nationwide, but it’s probably one of the best films of the festival, with strong performances from just about every character in the film. Writer/Director Jonás Cuarón has delivered a gripping story of survival story that is also an outstanding thriller.