The Life Smugglers

For a change of pace, I'm taking a break from the horror write-ups (only momentarily) and writing up a short film I recently watched: The Life Smugglers.



The Life Smugglers follows an elderly man, Arnold (Ken Bridges), and his attempts to care for his ailing wife. The exist in the "[Medicare] donut hole" that doesn't offer them coverage and he's too old to be taken seriously for any job. As a means of paying for medical expenses (and getting the medication he needs for his wife), Arnold has taken to running pills across the border from Mexico into Arizona. Along for the ride is his buddy and conscience, Rocky (Jim McLeroy). On their most recent run, they unknowingly transport and illegal immigrant named, after some prodding from Rocky to get the information, Jorge (Martin Gonzalez).

At the core of The Life Smugglers is the story of two men, Arnold and Jorge, willing to do anything to support the people they love most, even if it means breaking the law. It's damn near heartbreaking to see Arnold treat Jorge so callously even though they are in the same predicament. Fortunately, Rocky is able to look past Jorge's illegal alien status and see that he is a human as well even though he doesn't know the nature of Jorge's struggle (for all of his strengths as a human, Rocky has never learned Spanish which tends to leave him in the dark).

Unfortunately for Jorge, his timing to come to America couldn't be worse. America is deep in recession and not only is there now work for immigrants, there's little work for anyone else. The Life Smugglers is subtly a blistering commentary on America's treatment of those at the bottom of the food chain. Little time is spent to understand why these groups of people need help. Few bother to ask. Lucky for Arnold (and Jorge), he has Rocky to help see through the fog. There are those who'd be just as happy to blindly let the struggle continue. The Life Smugglers ends on a note of near hopelessness. Even Rocky is beaten. He doesn't care what Jorge had to say. No need for translation. Except he does. Even though we think we've been beaten, that there's no hope, we keep going.

I don't want to make The Life Smugglers sound too political. The elements are there, but the characters are what makes it work. Screenwriter Wes Ford packs a lot of story and detail into 25 minutes. He has a fine touch with the way people interact with each other and a great sense of when humor is needed and when to let the drama take over. It helps to have actors who can own the material and I'm always a little surprised when I watch a short film the features such impressive acting. I tend to associate short films with a bunch of friends casting each other in roles that may or may not be appropriate and hamming it up, but everyone here is top-notch.

Finally, Dave Wells direction is understated and classy. He lets the material do the work and it feels distinctly of the Sidney Lumet-style (which really hearkens back even further) of direction disappearing into and aiding the story and not taking it over. He punctuates the action with gorgeous photography of setting suns and stark Arizona landscape (we'll give some credit there to Cinematographer Patrick Ruth, as well). The Life Smugglers has been showing and receiving accolades at film festivals across the country, so keep you eyes open for new developments on its Facebook page.