Post #10 Sleep Dealer

Sleep Dealer is a science fiction film that was produced by Alex Rivera and was released in 2008. It focuses on and predicts how the future might look. It stares Memo, who is a boy whose interest is electronics though his father wants him to farm in their rural home in Mexico. Memo’s homeland, where he was supposedly told to do the farming by his father, has run short of water due to a private water project that tapped water into a heavily guarded damn. Memo’s interest in electronics and computer hacking led him to develop a monitoring device he used to draw frequency communication of the drones used in safeguarding the water project. He was soon noticed, which led to his home being attacked, and his father killed. He moves to Tijuana to look for work and also to seek revenge. He meets a lady, Luz, who helps him find a job but also takes advantage of him to get money by selling her memories with Memo. Ramirez, the drone driver who killed Memo’s father, buys the memory and realizes he murdered an innocent man. Ramirez makes up to Memo. During a war that led to a water source being developed for Memo’s region farmers (Enfer, 2015).

The film Sleep Dealer brings to attention the lack of access to water that is the day to day reality to millions. Access to clean and potable water should be a basic human right. The fact that water has become a resource that has been capitalized has resulted in mass poverty, deaths, and disease of millions. It shows how big companies are using their monetary and military power to snatch natural gifts from people. Farmers in the region that Memo’s family resided had to walk miles away to get water under tight security watch. Water is supposed to be a gift provided by nature for the sustenance of life. The water company has, however, taken that from the people. Therefore, this film foreshadowed the future of the privatization of nature (Enfer, 2015). The film, however, has a plot that is not very open. The film even ends unexpectedly. We needed to see how the farmers enjoyed the access to free water and if they enjoyed it throughout the subsequent years. We also needed to know how the water company reacted to this new development. Another important theme that Sleep Dealer explores is the exploitation of migrant workers within the United States. It is important to recognize that in the midst of the corona pandemic we’re in, migrant workers have been deemed essential workers due to their work providing us with goods such as produce. So, even when they have been deemed essential they are still not valued by so many within this country or provided with additional resources during this time. We are all essential and should be treated as such.