A migrant family living in North Carolina spends their time together doing whatever makes them happy. Bulls and Saints is their story as they go about their normal lives–but something is haunting them. They know that one day they will have to return home, and while they are preparing for that time, for now, they will live in the moment.
This corner of the industry is saturated at this point, and another film about Mexican immigrants spending their time in the United States is unnecessary; and it’s effectively overkill. There are some topics that have been covered so many times, that are talked about over and over again, rarely veering from the same simple story that has existed for years, and Bulls and Saints is just that. The film never does anything special, it never does anything to mix it up, or to try and appeal to new viewers. Sometimes simplicity can work–but the fact of the matter is that this has been done before dozens of times. Bulls and Saints needs to develop something new, and it fails to do so.
The thing that could have saved the film for me would have been developing the individuals in a way that allowed them to resonate with me, to become accessible. Just like the other flaws of the film, Bulls and Saints never develops these characters in a way that is conducive to viewers liking them. Part of the struggle comes from the lack of intimacy. While viewers may be pulled up close and personal, I’m not sure that we are ever really given the opportunity to feel what these individuals feel–and the potential intimacy is thwarted by the drab backdrops. The rooms in which Director Rodrigo Dorfman films lack personality, they lack the ability to reach out and grab viewers, pull them in close, and give them a reason to care. I needed that intimacy, the one that evades the film in its entirety–and Bulls and Saints struggles significantly as a result.
Part of the reason I struggled to appreciate Bulls and Saints is a result of my recent frame of mind. I don’t condemn anyone that participates in the rodeo, dog races, or the like–but I still watch these events and, as of late, have been unable to identify with the people. I find myself hurting for the animals, struggling to understand why they are being forced to participate in a sport where they aren’t players, but victims. I can’t fully explain why my stance on these things have shifted over the course of the past few months, but the fact is that it has. With that, it became difficult for even those moments of energy and potential fun present in Bulls and Saints to resonate with me. That’s just me, however, as I believe that these moments will appeal to other viewers, and these will be the instances where viewers fall in love with this family and the film as a whole. Dorfman does something to appeal to viewers, I just happened to be in the wrong frame of mind in recent months to be able to appreciate this aspect of the film.
Bulls and Saints has been done before, not just a handful of times, but seemingly hundreds of times. It doesn’t do much (if anything really) to separate itself from the rest of the bunch–and in this saturated corner of cinema, Bulls and Saints ultimately drowns.
Directed by Rodrigo Dorfman.
Starring Gamaliel “Tacho” Juárez Sánchez, Cecilia Mendoza Estrada, Alan Juárez, Gamaliel “Flaco” Juárez, Josefina “Chepa” Estrada, Teresa Sánchez, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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