So far, Dupont says he has not submitted any documents asking for legal fees. However, the county attorney has, according to Gandarilla's office, appealed the case to Superior Court. What, so Smith and MacIntyre can dissemble some more about it?
This stupid bit of retaliation against a minor foe of the sheriff snowballed to the point that two MCSO deputies — at least one of whom should know better — ended up contradicting each other and revealing the contempt with which they view the legal system.
Stephen Lemons
Director Pedro Ultreras (left) and Phoenix actor Luis Avila (several pounds lighter) at a recent screening of Ultreras' gripping film, 7 Soles.
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And all for a bogus trespassing case.
SEVEN SUNS
Pedro Ultreras' brutal, uncompromising film 7 Soles (7 Suns), which depicts the plight of a group of migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert is a must-see for all Americans who want to understand the sheer horror some immigrants are willing to endure to come to this country.
In it, director Ultreras, a former reporter for Telemundo and Univision, weaves together true-life tales of migrants trying to make it to the relative safety of a Phoenix drop-house. I saw the film's Phoenix première the other day. The theater was so packed that I and others had to sit on the floor.
Often, depictions of the plight of migrants are melodramatic and one-sided, but 7 Soles was neither. In the film, human smugglers (coyotes), as depicted by Gustavo Sánchez Parra and Phoenix's Luis Avila, are the personifications of thuggishness, selfishness, and criminality. Throughout the film, there are murders, rapes, people left to die in the desert and very little redemption.
If you know Luis Avila, recognizable because of his activism locally and his theater work here (he's the director of the play The Tears of Lives, which I blogged about recently), you may be shocked by his portrayal of the coyote Gavilan. Avila was heavier when the film was shot. His success at making you believe he's capable of numerous, heinous acts is a tribute to his acting chops.
The plot involves Parra's coyote character, Negro, and Avila's character, Gavilan, transporting a group of 15 men, women, and children across the border. Problem is, their route is being closely watched by the U.S. Border Patrol, so the coyotes have to take a more scenic path, so to speak, and that's when the suffering kicks in full blast. If the sun and the scorpions don't get you, dehydration, lack of food and medicine, or violent confrontations with and between the human smugglers, just might.
I should also mention the moving performance of Mexican actress Evangelina Sosa, who portrays a woman crossing with her two small children. Sosa ends up appealing to what little good there is in Negro, though how successful she is, you'll have to find out for yourselves.
I don't want to give away too much, but the drama definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. Although it's been playing for four months in Mexico, Ultreras explained in a Q&A after the screening that U.S. distribution's been difficult to obtain because the film's in Spanish with English subtitles, and it's hardly the sort of feel-good fare many Americans prefer.
That's too bad, because I'm certain this movie could find a wider audience, particularly in Arizona, because much of the film was shot in the desert and in Phoenix, where 100 extras were used in a drop-house scene.
The première and a subsequent screening were benefits for No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes. Currently, the film has no regular engagement in the United States, but there will be another screening at 6:30 p.m. September 3 at Harkins Arizona Mills to benefit the Macehualli Day Labor Center. Admission will be $10, and Ultreras will be there for a Q&A afterwards.
Although Ultreras is looking to show the film elsewhere in the Phoenix area, he has no guarantees, so I urge everyone with an interest in the subject, or just in seeing a gripping piece of filmmaking, to check it out.
