First of all, the movie is entirely in Spanish (with some Indian dialect). Sayles taught himself Spanish; as a result, the language is simple and basic enough that even I could follow it most of the time. The other benefit is that the subtitles are simple to read (intentional on Sayles' part), so you can spend more time watching the characters instead of reading their words.
It takes place in an unidentified Central American country (also intentional; Sayles wanted to make the point that it could happen in Cambodia or Rwanda as easily as in Guatemala). Two years before the story begins, Dr. Fuentes trained 7 young doctors and sent them out to the Indian villages around the countryside to provide much needed medical care. Now, he finds one of them back in the city but refusing to tell him what happened. So he goes in search of the other doctors and finds a conflict that he never knew existed. While city residents like Dr. Fuentes are told everything is under control in the countryside, the reality is that the Army and the guerrillas are very much active and are slaughtering the innocent Indians who are caught in the crossfire.
While much of our discussion after the movie centered around the politics of the film, I was more struck by the theme of alienation. Dr. Fuentes is alone and vulnerable once he leaves his city; as he searches for his students, he picks up other dispossessed souls: a child unwanted by his village, an Army deserter, a fallen priest (who has the most haunting, wrenching tale of them all), a girl who hasn't spoken since being raped two years before. Yet the way they interact is not the way they would in a traditional American movie -- I don't want to give anything away, but it's not a very uplifting ending.
As you'd expect, all the actors are Latinos, with the exception of what our guest speaker called "the Teflon Tourists," Mandy Patinkin and his wife as a pair of serenely ignorant tourists who provide the only comic relief that isn't grim gallows humor. It's a beautifully filmed movie, with lush jungle and vibrant Mayan costumes. And the music is wonderful, linked to locales and to moods -- the song played over the end credits haunted me for an hour after the movie ended.
So, you're probably going to have to hunt for this movie, but it's worth the search.
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