Natalia Almada Takes You to “To the Other Side”
Documentary Film Depicts Drug Trafficking and Human Smuggling Along the Border
Film Review by Elizabeth Gonzalez

The Film Al Otro Lado (To the Other Side) by Natalia Almada was screened at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library to a packed room as part of the 10 th Annual Latino Film Festival. The documentary film takes a look at drug trafficking and human smuggling from both sides of the border through Mexican corridos, music that tells real life stories of a person's life.

It follows Magdiel, who lives with his family in the State of Sinaloa, in a little fishing village where catching fish just doesn't allow people to survive. Sinaloa is notorious for drug trafficking and in the film one man says that 300 people are in jail from that town alone because of drug trafficking. That's the only option for living well. Magdiel doesn't take part of that life because of his family, even though he claims he has very powerful friends. He writes and sings corridos (traditional folk music) about and even for drug traffickers. His dream is to cross over to the United States to pursue his musical career and have his talent pay off so that he can help his parents and sister.

From a little ranch in Sinaloa, Chalino Sanchez made a name for himself. The original when it comes to singing corridos for drug traffickers, he became a legend in his world and is still to this day imitated and adored by the people who've followed in his footsteps. Connections were made between the rap music of Tupac that young latinos were listening to and corridos that also speak about new cars, drugs, money, poverty and life's hardships. The same kids that listened to rap who maybe only spoke English, sang along to corridos. These kids were making the older generation's music popular and it was relevant to their lives.

The scene that is perhaps the saddest, (and the only one that brought a rude movie watcher to silence) was when two self-proclaimed “neighborhood watch” folks track people crossing the border as if they were animals. They find three people hiding under bushes after following “fresh tracks.” The sadness and anguish on the three people's faces reflected their feelings of defeat, but most of us could never understand that feeling.

The film ends with Magdiel saying that his dream is finally here, and God willing he will make it to the United States. He and a group of people walk into the dessert and disappear into the darkness. There is no update on Magdiel's whereabouts, not even a hint, but it was a fitting end because so many times that is just the uneasy feeling family and friends are left with when they say their last goodbye.

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