Abstract

Alex Rivera’s dystopian sci-fi movie Sleep Dealer from 2008 never showed in theatres in Norway due to its controversial nature. I heard about it at a conference in Toledo, Spain, and ordered it online. I watched it several times, and taught it at least once. Sleep Dealer opens with the main protagonist, Memo Cruz, and his family as they struggle to make ends meet from their little milpa (corn field) in a small village in Oaxaca, Mexico. Memo’s listening on satellite via a “hacking kit” draws the attention of the water company, and it sends a drone to attack what they assume are “aqua terrorists,” killing Memo’s father. In the dystopian future Rivera portrays, the threat of droughts has come true, and American monopolies are controlling water resources as far south as Colombia. The border has been closed, but Tijuana still and significantly beckons the desperate and hopeful masses with the sign “City of the Future.”