Our own Michael Guillen has become a major fan of Heidi Specogna's The Short Life Of Jose Antonio Gutierrez and it's not hard to see why. The tragic story of an impoverished Guatemalan who signed up for the US military to get his Green Card only to become one of the first deaths in the Iraq conflict shortly thereafter puts a human face onto all the politics swirling around these issues and it does so very, very well. Canada's Atopia gave the film a theatrical run recently and their DVD release has just arrived. It comes with a solid anamorphic transfer; English, Spanish, French and German subtitles; and an interview with director Specogna shot while the film was at Sundance. It's not the flashiest of releases but it's a very solid one given to a film that deserves the chance to find its audience.
