After a payoff to an American border agent, a truckload of illegals enter New York, including Pedro (played by Jorge Adrián Espindola) and Juan (played by Armando Hernandez), who are attractive seventeen-year-olds. During the trip, Pedro falls asleep, Juan steals his knapsack, and in Brooklyn assumes his identity as the long-lost son of Diego (played by Jesús Ochoa), whose mother told him was the owner a French restaurant who had been sending regular sums of money home. Diego, however, is a rotund kitchen helper, lives in squalor, and hates Pedro’s mother for twotiming him. At first, Diego has no interest in a son, but Juan cleverly gets money by stealing purses on the subway and charms Diego with his good looks and amusing stories. Meanwhile, Pedro tries to track down his father with the help of Magda (played by Paola Mendoza), a drug-addicted prostitute. Inevitably, the two boys meet again, and an unhappy ending underscores what the film is all about—what illegal immigrants must endure to survive. Directed by Christopher Zalla, the film is also known as Padre Neustro. MH
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