You can see “Desert Angel” at the Austin Film Festival on Saturday October 26, 2024 6:45pm – 8:32pm CDT at the Galaxy 9 theater. Learn more here: https://2024austinfilmfestival.sched.com/event/1mKcL/desert-angel, keep up to date about the film here: https://www.desertangelfilm.com/
The names and faces of migrants who cross the US-Mexico border in search of a better life are more often than not, unrevealed. They are looped into a monolithic, anonymous group of “others,” umbrella-termed by the culture and government of the nation receiving them. On the basis of safety, this is important in preventing interference from government authorities. But when their safe, secure arrival in the US is so often based on pure chance, being nameless, faceless, and isolated is a matter of life and death.
Vincent DeLuca’s documentary “Desert Angel” follows Rafael Larraenza. For over 25 years, he has made himself, and his titular organization, an around-the-clock resource for migrants in crisis while crossing. A naturalized Mexican immigrant himself, Rafael leads search-and-rescue missions for travelers stranded in the desert. After days of walking with little food, possibly no water, and unforgiving elements, migrants (or their family members back home or in the US) can call his hotline and provide coordinates to get assistance. Rafael will provide food, water, first aid, and more.
Rafael covers the border from California to Texas, taking off at the drop of a hat to administer aid. He hikes miles into the deserts, up mountains, and through plains for hours, searching. He’s 68 years old and has no intentions of slowing down. Yet with the cartilage in his hip bones worn out of existence and competitors threatening the integrity of Desert Angels, DeLuca’s documentary is a testament to Rafael’s tenacity and an overall love letter to keeping faith in humanity. Every search-and-rescue is done for free; he often sleeps in his truck bed or runs the gas out of his vehicle, yet never stops pushing forward.
Even as the film has clear reverence for Rafael, “Desert Angels” gives biography to the generalized. Ultimately, it is loyal to contextualizing and humanizing the migrant experience. Adjacent to Rafael’s story of running the Desert Angels program, DeLuca also hones in on Indira, an El Salvadoran woman in the U.S., whose son, Rodrigo, lost contact while crossing the border. He is presumed dead, but Indira is unable to find closure – Rafael is determined to give it to her. Every expedition is filled with anxious hope, and “Desert Angel” is poignantly able to inspire that same, deeply human tension in the viewers.
“Desert Angels” is beautifully personal and extremely affecting. The grit of Rafael’s work is highlighted narratively as well as integral to the filmmaking itself. DeLuca’s camera ventures out into the desert, up mountains, and more, discovering bones, bodies, and exhausted travelers all along the way. And every encounter on the spectrum is equally moving, whether with relief or tragedy.
The scale of Tin Chan’s cinematography sees the US-Mexico border as a looming, predatory expanse, a space so large and unforgiving that it subverts the learned romance of the American West. Instead, it embodies a character-like role as an antagonist in “Desert Angel.” It gives a different perspective to a traditional image, and affirms that the physical landscape of the United States means something far different in each set of eyes that rest upon it. DeLuca’s film strikes deep in the chest, and does so effortlessly and simply: keeping the treachery, tenacity, and community of American migrants into constant conversation.
