This is the fourth full-length film from Mexican director María Novaro. The movie begins in Ciudad Juárez in the Chihuahua state of northern Mexico and it is here where Aurelia (Tiaré Scanda), a single mother that works in a maquiladora (manufacturing factory) and is looking to give her children a better future, meets Ana (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), a prehispanic art trafficker from Spain who is running from the police. In true Bildiung movie style, the two begin a journey in Aurelia’s car with her baby, Billy, that takes them down the Gulf Coast of Mexico from Chihuahua to the state of Yucatán. The film criticizes and highlights many of the economic and political issues that arrised after the signing of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). On their journey they face trouble and dark character, from the police to the drug cartels that Aurelia's boyfriend is involved with, all to the sounds of the typical music of each region the travel through, from norteño to jorocho. They must stay together and learn to work as a team to overcome these challenges.

Thomas J. Shalloe

Arizona State University