This is a slow-paced film about a guy who goes to visit the resting place of his ancestors. Must like Chariots of Fire (1981) it is slow as molasses. Yet the director of that Best Picture Winner could learn a lot about how to make a decent move from this one:
I. Characters: Both works focus mainly on two characters.
Bajo: Damian and Arce don't say much, but we come to find that they're the simplest of men. Damian is a simple artist and Arce is some sort of rural worker. Further on, we find out that Damian is being consumed by guilt over an unethical moment of weakness (so we feel sympathetic) and Arce is brave, resourceful, and an empathetic friend.
Chariots: Abrahams is an arrogant elite university SJW who cries when he loses at a race. Liddell is an arrogant and delusional guy who refuses to run on the Sabbath. The more they talk, they less we like them and the more bored we become.
II. Plot
Bajo: Damian is a guy who seems to want to discover his roots. We later learn he's remorseful about something he did and he's trying to deal with that by going off to his grandmother's grave before his wife gives birth. Arce is his stoic and mostly silent guide.
Chariots: Abrahams and Liddell want to win some foot race not even they care about.
III. Music
Bajo: Not much music. Mostly sounds of wind in the desert. Timeless.
Chariots: Some bland synthesizer track that everyone was going crazy over at the time it premiered. Now seems like they're laughing at it because tastes changed. Who cares. It's neither the greatest nor the worst track in its day nor is it now.
Bajo California: El limite del tiempo is a slow-paced movie that offers good food for thought. It's mainly about one or two guys wandering through desert terrain and the two guys don't talk all that much or deeply.
It's very reminiscent of a travellogue with moderate spikes of drama and character discovery. I wasn't bored, but I wouldn't blame others if they were.
Ohh, and Alcazar's Mexican-American accent is really fake.
Honourable mentions: Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981). I haven't seen it, but most people agree it should have won best picture in 1981 over Chariots. Honestly almost anything would have been better, even Absence of Malice (1981) (which I did see).
