Sleep Dealer

2008. USA/Mexico. Directed by Alex Rivera. Sometime in the not too distant future, big corporations control the water supply and international borders are truly airtight. In a Mexican village, Memo, a young man who loves to tinker with technology, hacks into the wrong system and finds himself in big trouble. When he runs off to a border town, he finds a job and a girl-but no guarantee of a happy ending. In his debut feature, director Alex Rivera creates a chilling scenario that is not so far-fetched. With the look and energy of a futuristic computer game, the film treats us to a world where migrant workers' nervous systems are plugged into a global network, allowing them to do menial jobs in the U.S. for the same low wages but without setting foot north of the border. A thriller of a ride that is a chilling indictment of global capitalism and a look at the lost promises of the World Wide Web. 90 min.