I Crossed the Desert With a Gun in Hand

Daniel Torres enlisted in the US Marine Corps before being arrested and deported to Tijuana in Mexico, upon his return from the war in Iraq.
After winning a lawsuit against the US administration, he is now trying to help those who, like him, were banished from a country for which they put their lives on the line.

The photo of Daniel Torres posing in uniform with medals on his chest made the front page of several US newspapers. An emblematic portrait of the combat waged by those who, like him, served what they saw as their home country, the United States, and were then sent back to their birth country, Mexico. In Tijuana, they are waiting for a chance to return home, often shattered by their experiences of war in Iraq or Afghanistan, and are surviving – with the help of alcohol, drugs and solidarity. 

At age 35, Daniel Torres regained his US citizenship, and his story is as epic as the stories that still leave traces on the landscapes spanning the American West to northern Mexico and whose memory is perpetuated in the films of John Ford and Dennis Hopper, from the western to the road movie. 

The film travels through this mythologised territory and Daniel’s story. A story reconstructed in bits and pieces as the journey unfolds, words exchanged during a star-filled night, discussions around a meal with friends, sharing secrets and testimonies. Daniel’s memories and of those dear to him are all fragments showing that cinema invents nothing and portrays the making of a hero.

Catherine Bizern