A mother travels across Mexico in search of her son who authorities say died while trying to cross the border into the United States.
In 2010, in San Fernando, Mexico, the Los Zetas cartel abducted seventy-three migrant workers headed for the US and after an awful display of carnage, they buried the victims in secret graves. The following year in the same region, the ruthless military-trained gang kidnapped another caravan of one hundred and ninety-three immigrants and subjected them to the same torture. Some men were handed weapons and forced to fight to the death. Those fortunate to survive were recruited as hitmen for the cartel.
Most people are fleeing their country for a chance to make some money or escape brutal regimes that were propped up by US policy changes or corporate interests. Mass graves, bio-data collection, ICE, the cartel, and border vigilantes are just some of the obstacles desperate humans are forced to deal with. “Identifying Features” captures it all with a final act that I’ll never forget.
With streaks of grey hair and a pretty but weathered face, Magdalena (Mercedes Hernández) reports her teenage son missing after he left for the US Border without a word for weeks. The authorities are useless and they callously hand over a binder full of recent corpses to see if she recognizes her son. Fortunately, she doesn’t spot him but she’s overwhelmed by the experience. Unfortunately, her son’s traveling companion was found murdered, and the small village holds a somber candlelight vigil.
On the way home, Magdalena and her husband are briefly followed by a large pickup blasting a narcocorrido ballad. Judging by the ride and bandit music they’re most likely cartel members or wannabe gangsters. The threat of violence is palpable yet unpredictable.
Magdalena, alone, arrives at the border and has her blood drawn to compare with any of the nearly unrecognizable bodies found in the mass grave. A pathologist states they were set on fire before being buried in a shallow hole. She learns of one survivor who’s living remotely, but gangsters and treacherous terrain surround him.
An eye surgeon is delicately working on a patient when a phone call summons her to the border. She’s been looking for her son since he went missing on a trip with friends in Monterrey four years ago. Standing in a trailer full of dead bodies wrapped in body bags, she insists it’s not her child when asked to identify the remains.
In a naturally-written moment, the two women meet in the hospital’s hallway. The surgeon offers to help Magdalena, who’s semi-illiterate, and says if she signs the paperwork the government will stop looking for her son. Magdalena logically ponders what if he is dead and she doesn’t acknowledge it. The surgeon encourages her to ignore the government and continue searching.
Miguel (David Illescas) is a young man in his late teens or early twenties, introduced in the process of being deported by the US Border Patrol. Wearing a bright blue KC Royals hat, his re-entry into a nearly foreign environment is a visceral experience to witness. Since he’s left his small town of Ocampo, the mayor has been killed and most people are reluctant to travel anywhere near there. In a country ripped apart by corruption and bloodshed, going home is just as complicated as finding a lost loved one.
Without spoiling much more, Magdalena and Miguel cross paths and the third act comes together in a satisfying conclusion. Their journeys are written authentically and never feel overdramatized or manipulative. Watching people with limited resources navigating the unforgiving border is enthralling and should be required viewing for anyone doubting the plight of an immigrant.
Director Fernanda Valadez and cinematographer Claudia Becerril Bulos capture the actors in realistic portraits. The tiny villages, lit by streetlights, are colored in greens and yellows with the rural settings mostly filmed at sunrise and sunset, awash in pink and coral shades. Valadez shoots like Michael Mann, with a humane eye, capturing a city’s street life, ruggedly beautiful landscape, lightning, and fire. And just like Mann, she films characters walking with splendid immediacy. Her images pair perfectly with the score by Clarice Jensen which is a vast electronic composition filled with droning pieces and lush notes of synths. I can’t recommend this film enough, with its restrained script and talented cast, one of the most powerful stories of 2020.
“Identifying Features” is now playing in Virtual Theaters
