Mexico city. The young Pedro Rojas graduates at the Police Academy and is assigned as the highway patrolman along the US-Mexican border. Idealistic at first, he accepts his first bribe to allow a farmer pass with a truck full of pigs without a permit. Pedro marries Griselda, they get a baby, but is disenchanted by her egoistic nature and thus starts an affair with drug-addicted prostitute Maribel. Upon stopping a speeding car, Pedro is shot at and wounded in the leg. Later, his partner Anibal is killed by drug smugglers. Spying on the shipment of drugs, which are delivered by a helicopter, Pedro shoots at the smugglers from an ambush. He also confiscates a part of drugs and hides it in a buried suitcase. Pedro quits from the police and works as a truck driver of workers for Griselda's enterprise, but also supports Maribel in order to keep her off drugs.
The excursion of British director Alex Cox into the Mexican cinema resulted in an energetic and authentic little independent film which works thanks to its enthusiasm and wild audacity, but also owes a lot of its charm to the excellent leading actor, Roberto Sosa, who creates a palpable character of police officer Pedro who starts off with high idealism, only to "adapt" to imperfections and disappointments of reality. Cox directs the film in delicious long takes, each of them encompassing a wealth of information about the setting and characters in them, while he also avoids the glamour of mainstream films in favor of authenticity. There are also some traces of quirky humor: in one sequence, Pedro stops a truck full of plantage workers because they are standing, and are thus in a security violation, but the driver, Griselda, asks him to drop by at her home later on. Pedro does, and stops by for dinner at her kitchen, until Griselda "reminds" her father that he has to go somewhere. When her father leaves the house, Griselda stays alone with Pedro. Cut to a home video of their wedding. These and other clever plot points give "Highway Patrolman" flair and spark. Another great sequence has Pedro rushing to his partner's help, Anibal, but his old police car will not start its engine. Pedro finally starts the car, and is driving across the highway, but the viewers are not shown in what trouble Anibal has found himself, just that he is screaming: "They are armed to their teeth!" All goes wrong, and Pedro's car breaks down, so Pedro, limping on one leg, exits the car with a machine gun and continues walking on foot on the highway. He finds Anibal's deserted car, and follows the trail of blood into the desert. Such excitement and passion in that sequence really elevate the film into a high impression.
Grade:+++
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