Directed by Jonas Cuaron
Picturehouse, Liverpool
22nd November 2016

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

This is a very topical film given the series of rants uttered by Donald Trump about building walls on the border between America and Mexico.

It portrays a psychopath/serial killer in the shape of Moises (Gael Garcia Bernal) who shoots, with his high velocity rifle, Mexicans trekking through the sun baked desert, trying to reach urban areas of the US as if firing at a coconut shy at a fairground.

He shows no remorse at all about the fifteen or so people he killed. Even his dog Trapper takes part in the murderous pursuit.

The film does not indicate whether this was the first time he had enacted this bloodletting on such a scale. Methinks, given his mental state and the enjoyment he felt in pop pop popping his victims, that it was definitely not.

At times it was like taking part in a video game, such was the clinical nature of his homicidal killing spree.

After shooting his latest victim he bellows out “Welcome to the land of the free. This is my home.”

You can imagine Trump making similar comments!

Desierto was part of the Discover Tuesday series of films at Picturehouse.

Forthcoming screenings – they all start at 6 pm – include ‘Sonita’ on 29 November. It is about a female teenager in Tehran who dreams of becoming a rapper.

Little Men will be shown on 6 December. Brooklyn teenagers Jake and Tony are best friends but their innocence is to be punctured by the complexities of grown up lives.

On the following Tuesday (13 December), under the heading of ‘Ghost Stories Season’ ‘Under The Shadow’, set during the Iran-Iraq war, will be screened, with Dark Water, set in Japan, scheduled the following week.

A British film ‘Burn Burn Burn’ is the final film of Discover Tuesdays of 2016. It is a contemporary road movie.