Soy Nero review: A decent, slow-burning picture from filmmaker Rafi Pitts that is let down by a weaker second half.
Soy Nero review by Paul Heath, Berlin Film Festival, 2016. Soy Nero, or I Am Nero to translate to English, follows the story of Nero, a Mexico native who is looking to make the dangerous trip across the border into the United States Of America. He is intent on becoming a U.S. Citizen and be with his brother Jesus in Los Angeles. Obviously having made the journey before, to no avail, Nero jumps the fence once more, only this time making it past the border patrol, eventually ending up in Southern California, where he finds his brother in a plush Beverly Hills mansion. His dream of becoming a U.S. Citizen is heightened from seeing his sibling, who has seemingly made it big, and figures that his only way of quickly achieving the same, and becoming a proper resident with an real Green Card, is signing up for military service in the middle east, to serve with the United States on the front line.
Rafi Pitts‘ engrossing drama is a surprising, though welcome addition to this year’s Berlinale in-competition line-up, another feature focussing on illegal immigrants seeking a better life. We’ve already seen earlier on in the festival the superb documentary Fire At Sea, a big contender here, and now we have Pitts’ fictional, though equally relevant picture that relocates its subject matter to the US and Mexico. We are seeing more and more films come out of the territories of late tackling the same subject. Just last year we had the superb documentary Cartel Land, and then Desierto, Jonas Cuaron’s cat-and-mouse-thriller that debuted at the London Film Festival. Pitts’ film is much more dramatic and less glamourised than Cuaron’s effort, and focusses more on the issue of migrants serving with the US Army on foreign territory, as well as getting into the USA in the first place. It’s one of those films that is has two very distinct halves. The first hour is made up of Nero’s journey into America, meeting with his brother and seeing the life that he has made for himself and the struggles that come with it, and then, in the second half, we get to see Nero’s experiences on the front lines in the desert.
For the large part, the film works perfectly fine; provoking debate,as well as personalizing the issues very well in its main protagonist. It’s a film that takes its time getting to where it needs to, and is as much about the journey as the destination. The lead role of Nero is superbly acted by Johnny Ortiz; a promising young actor, who was in last year’s underrated McFarland, and carries this film from start to finish.
The first half of Soy Nero is somewhat stronger than the second, with just about 45 minutes given to the Middle-Eastern segment of the story. We meet a lot more characters, including an almost-silent turn from American character actor Rory Cochrane, as well as some really strong performances from British actor Ami Ameen, who I’m sure we can expect more big things from in the future, and Darrell Britt-Gibson, who is brilliant as Compton.
The film is involving, the subject intriguing and obviously very current, relevant and important internationally. I had not seen any of the any of Rafi Pitts’ previous work, but was delighted with what he’s delivered with Soy Nero. While flawed, the experience was far from an unpleasant one, and I’ll be intrigued as to what we’ll see from him next.
Soy Nero review by Paul Heath at the Berlin Film Festival, 2016.
