¡Alambrista!

Originally produced for PBS, Robert M. Young's 1977 feature-length directing debut, ¡Alambrista!, would later win the first Camera d'Or Award at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. This earnest, low-key drama follows young Mexican husband and father Roberto (Domingo Ambriz), who sneaks across the border to earn money for his impoverished family. Life in the U.S. is not easy: immigration officials and police officers seem to be a constant presence, and Roberto's inability to quickly grasp English keeps him isolated. Exploited by those seeking cheap labor, Roberto also encounters a kind soul in single mother and waitress Sharon (Linda Gillen), who takes him into her home and attempts to Americanize him (a shopping trip in a department store, a Sunday in an evangelical church). The film mostly avoids overt politicizing of the illegal-immigrant problem (a sequence with Mexican workers used as strikebreakers stands out for its stridency), focusing instead on the emotional elements of Roberto's plight, and benefiting from Ambriz's wonderful central performance. Debuting on both DVD and Blu-ray, extras on this Criterion Collection release include audio commentary by Young and co-producer Michael Hausman, Young's 1973 documentary short Children of the Fields, an interview with Edward James Olmos (who has a small role in the film), and a booklet with an essay by film historian Charles Ramírez Berg. Recommended. (P. Hall)