One of Galindo's most outspoken films, Wetbacks used a stark neorealism to inveigh against desperately poor Mexicans crossing illegally into the United States-a country, says the narrator, that "forty years of movies have presented as a place where everyone is happy." David Silva (the boxer of the previous film) portrays Rafael, whose odyssey through an alien nation is anything but happy. Following a harrowing border-crossing he experiences only fear, rejection, and oppression in the land of the free. Rafael's decision to return to Mexico is linked to that of his equally persecuted Mexican-American girlfriend Maria: the return to roots offers the only way to overcome their marginal status. The film's release was held up for two years by censors sensitive to the negative portrayal of Mexico's northern neighbor, with its Berlin Wall-like guard towers and ingrained bigotry.