Educational Media Reviews Online

To Die in the Desert is a tone poem and tribute to a style of music called Cardenche that is specific to Northern Mexico and born from the struggles of the people who live and work there. Cardenche takes its name from a cactus found in the desert of this region and is said to have been created by laborers who, after a day of grueling work, would gather to drink and sing in groups of three without any instrumentation. In an interview, one of the singers describes Cardenche as a way to process and digest life’s hardships whether they be societal or something very personal. The film features the people of Sapioriz, a town whose reputation looms large in the history of Cardenche, and their daily lives are shown through long and intimate shots of gatherings and domestic scenes.

Director Marta Ferrer successfully accentuates the feeling of the songs with lush visuals of a landscape that is craggy and dry with brambled and thorny vegetation. Machines are shown as an intrusive yet embedded aspect in the lives of the people of Sapioriz. Industrialization threatens the very existence of towns like Sapioriz as people travel farther and farther out to find work. Even Cardenche is finding it hard to survive in its birthplace, as those who practice it are either dying or losing the memory of the music. Everything is at odds with each other, but the conflict is not bombastic. Rather, it is shown in a meditative way with deliberate camera movements, edits and long takes that breathe slowly and steadily.

This context contributes to the depiction of the music as an expression of generational trauma, which is further highlighted by a scene in which children from Sapioriz are given a tour of a colonial Spanish building turned museum. Here, they see a mural featuring Mexican revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, among others, alongside renderings of laborers and a photograph of the Cardencheros de Sapioriz.

This film is Highly Recommended for College and General Adults. The 90-minute runtime makes it something more suited for specialized screenings in subjects such as folk music and folklore as well as anthropology.

Awards:

2018 Best Documentary - Latin American Film Festival of Toulouse; 2018 Honorable Mention José Rovirosa Award for Best Documentary; 2017 Winner of the Art Kingdom Award Los Cabos International Film Festival