La empresa is a strange creature of a most ambiguous nature: a fiction film about documentary filmmaking as fiction filmmaking, and what it all does to a region’s economy as well as a collective psychology. Or is it? Isn’t it more to the point to say that... But before we get lost here, let’s state what La empresa talks about: how the caminata nocturna, the illegal crossing of the border between Mexico and the United States, was turned into a business that ranges from four-hour night-time tours for tourists out for a sick thrill to reenactments for film and television crews. The latter, of course, is at the core of André Siegers’ casually ironic look at this economy of disaster. When the Germans arrive in town, they meet a workforce already in place and willing to play to any national stereotype – as the French seem to get other kicks out of presenting the caminata nocturna than the Netflix internationals.
Known as the “Most Gored Bullfighter in History,” Antonio Barrera has been stabbed 23 times by his horned adversary. Barrera may not be the most graceful bullfighter, but his unyielding fervor has carried him through each gore. Now with a wife and two children, his career poses a threat to his family’s stability and Barrera must grapple with saying goodbye to a passion he’s had his whole life.
