The Lost Luchador

After years of working as an assassin for Mexican drug cartels Chano Vargas longs to be absolved of the murder and mayhem he has wrought. As a young man his time in the limelight as a lucha libre wrestling champion was cut short by a faceful of acid - a consequence of angering the wrong drug kingpin. A disfigured Chano retained his luchador mask and went to work as a hired killer. Now Chano is on a desperate mission of atonement: getting a million dollars across the US/Mexico border to the daughter he does not know. After running a military roadblock Chano ends up on foot in the Sonoran desert without enough water to survive the trek before him. He happens upon four American twenty-somethings doing community service, chaperoned by a hapless minister distributing water and maps to migrants attempting the border crossing. Chano carjacks their van and kidnaps them. The minister soon ends up a rattlesnake bite victim and the youths abscond with the backpack containing Chano‘s million dollars in cash. As Chano pursues the youths it becomes a fight for survival not only against nature but deranged cartel flunkies, cruel coyote bandits, ruthless sicarios, and gung-ho vigilante border guards who populate the landscape. The middle-class American youths discover the petty concerns of their relatively privileged lives pale in comparison to the incredible hardships of the exploited migrants they meet on their journey through the no man’s land separating the US and Mexico. The backpack containing a million dollars looms large, with betrayal lurking as the ordeal proceeds. Throughout, Chano has an ongoing one-way dialogue with God, whom he has grown to hate - hallucinating in the desert, torn up inside about the horrible acts he has committed and the humanity he has lost. The only female in the group, Serena, forms a curious connection with Chano. Although no words are exchanged between them, she begins to empathize with Chano. And after reading the confessional letter he has written his daughter, Serena decides the million in cash should be delivered to Chano’s offspring – against her companions’ wishes. As the end of the line nears, it becomes unclear if Chano will be Serena’s savior or her executioner.