Alambrista! (1977) + Extras [The Criterion Collection]

In ¡Alambrista!, a Mexican farmworker sneaks across the border to California to make money to send to his family back home. It is a story that happens every day, told here in an uncompromising, groundbreaking work of realism from American independent filmmaker Robert M. Young. Vivid and spare where other films about illegal immigration might sentimentalize, Young’s take is equal parts intimate character study and gripping road movie, a political work that never loses sight of the complex man at its center. ¡Alambrista!, winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s inaugural Caméra d’Or in 1978, remains one of the best films ever made on this perennially relevant topic.



Commentary - in this audio commentary, recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2010, director Robert M. Young and coproducer Michael Hausman discuss the production history of ¡Alambrista!, the various locations where key sequences were shot, the non-professional actors that participated in the project, the film's message and relevance today, etc.

Extras:
– Edward James Olmos - in this interview, recorded by Criterion in 2010, Edward James Olmos discusses the significance of ¡Alambrista! and the work of director Robert M. Young. Edward James Olmos' small role in the film was one of his earliest screen appearances (12 min).
– Children of the Fields - this 1973 short documentary, which was produced for Xerox Corporation's television series Come Over to My House and directed by Robert M. Young, was a key source of research for ¡Alambrista! (27 min).
– A video interview with Robert M. Young (10 min).