CROSSING THE WIRE

No matter what one's political sensibilities, Ramon de Ocampo's performance as Victor Flores, an impoverished Mexican attempting to enter the U.S., brings a human face to the issue of illegal immigration. De Ocampo's narration vividly portrays the desperation of a young boy struggling to evade the border control as he contends with the corruption of the coyotes who promise to smuggle him into El Norte. The listener endures gnawing hunger, shivers in bone-chilling weather, and experiences the terror of the hunted in this convincing performance. Though the story may be commonplace and all too familiar, de Ocampo's sympathetic rendering of Victor's trials paints a compelling portrait of the less fortunate striving to survive in a hostile world. M.H.N. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]