Goofs

(at around 1h 55 mins) Amelia's torn stockings from wandering in the desert repair themselves as she is brought into the immigration office.

When Yussef shoots at the bus, the left side of the bus (facing toward the front of the bus) is just barely visible through the gun sight at a very oblique angle. Yet in the scene shortly thereafter, when Susan gets shot, the bullet enters the bus from just slightly ahead of where Susan was sitting, suggesting a nearly perpendicular angle.

When Santiago is made to go out of the car at the border crossing, it's dawn light outside. When he gets back into the car and in the following scenes, it's night again.

During the phone call taking place when the bus is leaving, Richard's watch is clean. Before and after, it is covered with blood and grime.

When Chieko and Detective Mamiya are out on the balcony, there are no buildings close to hers when he is looking at the view they have from above the 30th floor. Later Chieko is on the balcony, nude, and her father comes to comfort her. As the movie ends, a long shot of their balcony is shown from their balcony's height and there are two buildings, one the same height, and one taller, right next to theirs that were not there earlier.

When the young Moroccan boys are shooting at the bus from the top of the hill the bus is traveling from left to right. Susan is sitting on the left side of the bus. It would have been impossible for the boys to shoot her through the window next to her from the opposite side.

Toward the end, there's a medevac helicopter. This helicopter has "Marines" written on it as well as the red crosses to symbolize the medical purpose of the helicopter. Marines don't have medical helicopters. They're supplied by the Navy.

When Chieko is at the dance club, she could not hear the music, but would still feel the bass thumping.

Although Composer Gustavo Santaolallo won his second consecutive Academy Award for this 2006 film's original score, that should be taken with a grain of salt: among his instrumental tracks include "Iguazú," which according to this database has been used as far back as at least 1999 for "The Insider," amidst several additional projects, including the pilot episode of TV program "24".

(at around 47 mins) When the two Japanese cops meet Chieko, the older one says his name is Amano Yoshio, but the subtitles read Amamo Yoshjo.

(at around 26 mins) After Chieko takes her panties off she walks back up to the table with her friends. In this shot you can see the reflection of the steadicam arm, operator and an assistant in the mirror in the top left area of the screen.

When Amelia is in the desert, we can see one of the camera's shadow on the ground.

(at around 36 mins) Camera shadow on Richard and the blue car as it passes him behind the stopped bus.

After the wedding, Amelia, her nephew and the Jones children use the Tecate border crossing to reenter the USA. After fleeing, we are shown a sandy, wide desert where they wander. Actually, the Tecate border crossing is in the mountains, there is no such desert within a reasonable distance on the USA side. What is shown looks like an Arizona border crossing.

When Santiago, Amelia, and the children are returning to California from Mexico, dawn in breaking on their left side. Since they're obviously heading north, their left side would be to the west, and not to the east where dawn would break.

Saguaro cactus appears in several scenes of the Mexican desert. However, these grow in the Sonora Desert region and not south of San Diego.