Those Who Remain

The talented son of Juan Rulfo delivers a fresh view of a fairly explored topic: the Mexican immigration to the US. But as the title makes clear, the directors choose this time not to follow the traveler, but those who he leaves behind. Every migrant is also a son, or a father, or a husband and sometimes he wants to take his family with him to the new country, other times he wants to come back for good, or perhaps only temporarily.

Rulfo and Hagerman explore all the variants of this basic story of separation, dreams of improvement, fulfilled or frustrated and loneliness. They do so by selecting different families from several regions of the country (the north, the south, the west) and accompanying them for quite some time, silently attending the comebacks and returns of their beloved ones, new births, social ceremonies and daily work. The editing is amazing, so is the music.