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Bookmark this pageLos Bastardos (2008)
Director: Amat Escalante
Movie review
From Time Out Online
This nihilist depiction of Fausto (Sosa) and Jesús (Rodriguez), illegal Mexican labourers who live and work in California, is a severe, realist film that gets its message across by replicating in the audience the tedium of work and the shock of sudden violence that severe inequality can inspire.A long opening shot of the pair ambling along an empty storm drain in Los Angeles sets the mood for a silent, observational style that favours a settled, fly-on-the-wall approach to drama, whether capturing the monotony of work or the latent dread that marks the later stages of the film when Fausto and Jesús break into a woman’s house in exchange for cash. Hardly a pleasurable watch, but Los Bastardos justifies its shock tactics by placing the violence of its protagonists squarely in the context of desperately unequal work relations.
Author: Dave Calhoun
Time Out Online Cannes Film Festival 2008
Cast & crew
Director: Amat Escalante
Cast: Jesús Moises Rodriguez, Ruben Sosa, Nina Zavarin, Kenny Johnston full cast
Duration: 90 mins
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