Directed by Robert Redford, a vibrant, movement-relevant narrative film about a small, mostly Chicano/Indigenous community in northern New Mexico resisting corporate land grabs, water theft, and displacement. Blending humor, magical realism, and political struggle, it explores how ordinary people defend their land, identity, and future when confronted with powerful development interests.

The story begins when Joe Mondragón—played by Chick Vennera—illegally irrigates and plants a tiny bean field, directly challenging a wealthy developer’s plan to seize water and build a luxury resort. His small act of rebellion sparks a community-wide organizing effort, filled with internal debates, mutual aid, and intergenerational solidarity.

The film features an outstanding ensemble cast, including Rubén Blades (renowned singer-songwriter and actor), Sônia Braga, Christopher Walken, John Heard, and Melanie Griffith. Blades plays Sheriff Bernabé Montoya, whose moral conflict reflects the pressures local officials face when caught between their people and powerful elites.

At its heart, the film is about water as life, and the acequia tradition central to communities throughout the Southwest. It shows how water rights, communal land stewardship, and cultural survival are inseparable—and how development schemes threaten not merely property but identity and belonging.

Though told with charm and humor, the film sharply portrays grassroots resistance, the slow and relational work of organizing, the courage required to stand against corporate power, and the creative, culturally rooted tactics communities use to stay alive. Magical-realist elements reinforce the sense that ancestors, land, and culture stand with the people as they fight.