SOY NERO

Germany/France/Mexico, 2016, 190 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Ortiz, Ian Casselberry, Chloe Farnsworth, Rory Cochrane, Michael Harney, Ami Amean, Richard Portnow, Kyle Davis.
Directed by Rafi Pitts.

Writer-director Rafi Pitts has an Iranian background, having contributed to the Iranian industry with such films as The Hunter and It’s Winter. With his move to North America, he has within this story of Hispanic migrants, the wall which is a barrier between the US and Mexico, the disparate conditions between the wealthy and the poor in Los Angeles, and action in Afghanistan. It is quite an agenda for this film.

It opens with a young man, Nero, Johnny Ortiz, getting across the wall and running through the desert pursued by the police, to be captured, interrogated, and returned to Mexico. It appears that he was brought up in Los Angeles but his family deported and he is trying to get back to the US, seen playing volleyball over the wall with friends on the other side, planning, under the cover of fireworks, to get across the wall again at night – which he does.

His first encounter back in the US is trying to hitchhike, most cars not stopping, but then a businessman, Seymour, stopping with his little girl, chatting with Nero, making statements about borders, disparaging wind turbines by explaining that they run on oil and, therefore unreasonably costly, eventually interrogated by the police at a service station while Nero runs away.

In searching for his brother, Jesus, in LA, he is given the address by the receptionist at the garage where Jesus had worked, and Nero goes to Beverly Hills, once again interrogated by police, but finds the mansion where his brother lives – with the audience guessing, but the film taking a long time with tours of the mansion and touches of luxury living, to reveal that Jesus and his girlfriend actually work for the owners

Nero wants to become an American citizen and knows this can be achieved by serving in the military.

Suddenly, after training, we see him in Afghanistan, at an outpost supervising a no man’s land, encountering a family in the car, stopped by two of his African- American fellow guards and let through. The superior is an officer who keeps to himself and is shown, later, to have a death wish. The two African Americans are from the East coast and argue with Nero about the relative importance of the musicians from the East Coast rather than from LA.

When another car comes up the road, it does not stop and shots are fired. They call in reinforcements, especially an expert in discovering explosives in vehicles – which is the occasion for some rebels to start firing on the outpost. The result is that the three men try to escape in a truck, it breaks down, they have to make decisions as to what they will do in the desert, to walk to the main base, to determine where the road is, and to avoid further attacks.

The film has an open end, Nero on the road, having survived in the desert, not having his identification with him – and being subject to the same police searches he has experienced earlier. Will Nero be believed? Will he become an American citizen, will he get back to the United States, what kind of life might he have…?

The Iranian director has created a story, a critique of US ways, the challenge, especially, for an American audience.

1. The Mexican- US-and story, the background of the director, from Iran and his role in the Iranian film industry?

2. The target audience? The Hispanics, white Americans, African- Americans, people in Afghanistan – worldwide audiences?

3. The Mexican border, the desert, the wall separating Mexico from the US, the roads? Southern California, LA, Beverly Hills and mansions, the Afghan desert, No Man’s Land, the mountains, the roads? The musical score?

4. Nero running, pursued, the desert, the police catching him? The interrogation, his answers, not being believed? Deported back to Mexico? The playing volleyball over the wall? The plan, the night, running, the cover of the fireworks?

5. In the US, hitchhiking, many refusing to give a lift? Seymour and the little girl, her playing in the back of the car, singing with her father, Seymour and the gun and her comment about the pretend gun? The discussion about borders? The wind turbines and using petrol to run them? His conservative stances, getting gas and being questioned by the police, Nero running away?

6. Going to the garage for news of his brother, the anger of the proprietor, the girl giving him the address? Interrogated by the police walking in Beverly Hills, the police, the ringing the bell, the girl letting him in, the reunion with his brother, Jesus and his work on the car, the lavish mansion, the furnishings, the stuffed animals, the pool, aspects of luxury, the room with the musical instruments? Nero in the bath? The bath robe? Talking with his brother, smoking pot, the plans, the phone call to his mother, drinking? The arrival of the owners and the truth?

7. Nero, his plan to become an American citizen, growing up in South LA, deported? To join the military and get automatic citizenship?

8. The sudden transition to Afghanistan, his having had his training? The No Man’s Land, sentries, the small outpost, the sergeant and his being taciturn – and going out and getting shot? The two African- Americans, the discussions about Tupac and Biggy Smalls, attitudes from the East Coast? Nero becoming Jesus for his identification? The desert, the car approaching, the women, the sentry and the music and dancing? The work boring? The second car, suspicious, the shooting, the crash? Calling the experts, Mohammed, from Dearborn Michigan, meeting Jesus? Armstrong, jokes about his name, the inspection, his death, the car bomb and the suicide bomber, the rebels attacking?

9. Leaving in the truck, the truck, communications, walking through the desert, the dispute climbing the hill? The issue of East and West, the sun rising and setting? The helicopter flying and not seeing them? The attack, the deaths? Nero eating, sleeping, walking, coming to the road, being picked up, no identification, the repetition of the initial interrogation, his not being believed? The film stopping?

10. The impact of emotions, ideas? The picture of the US, ordinary, Hispanics, poverty, the contrast with the wealthy, the shops, citizenship, guns and violence, the police?