The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
Film Title (Original): The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
Film Title (English): The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
Film Title (Spanish): La Balada de Ezequiel Hernández
Country of Origin: United States
Year of Completition: 2007
Running Time: 90 minutes
Format/Color/BW: Digibeta, Color
Language: English, Spanish - Spanish subtitles
 Director: Kieran Fitzgerald | Biography | Watch Trailer
Film Synopsis - Short:
In 1997, an 18 year-old American civilian was shot and killed near his home in West Texas by a team of United States Marines. Ten years after the shooting, the US-Mexico Border continues to see increased militarization. Juxtaposing the grief of the victim's family with the marines' frustration and guilt in their first on-camera interviews, this powerful documentary, narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, reveals the tragic cost of a war waged under the banner of protection.
Film Synopsis - Long:
On May 20th, 1997, the team leader of a four-man US Marine unit conducting a
counter-narcotics mission near the remote border-town of Redford, Texas shot and killed 18-year-old Esequiel Hernández, Jr. while he tended his family’s herd of goats within sight of his home. It was the first time an American citizen had been killed on US soil by the active-duty military or national guard since the Vietnam War protests. None of the marines was ever charged with a crime.
Ten years after the shooting, the US-Mexico Border continues to see increased militarization. Compelled by the current political climate on the US-Mexico Border, the marines from the ‘97 mission have agreed to be interviewed for the first time. The film contrasts their frustration and guilt at having killed one of the citizens they were pledged to protect with the anger and grief of a family whose son died at the hands of their own military. This powerful documentary, narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, reveals the tragic cost of a war waged under the banner of protection. “...one film sure to create a stir on both sides of the border is director Kieran
Fitzgerald’s disquieting The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández...with its harrowing on-
camera testimonials from Hernández’s family and friends, as well as three of the
four implicated Marines, it offers an urgent contribution to the raging debate over
the physical and psychological divides separating the U.S. from its neighbor to the south.” — Scott Foundas, LA Weekly.
Film Credits
Director: Kieran Fitzgerald
Producer: Brendan Fitzgerald
Co-Producer: Shane Slattery-Quintanilla
Executive Producer: Peter Gilbert
Screenwriter: Kieran Fitzgerald, Shane Slattery-Quintanilla, Brendan Fitzgerald
Cinematography : Kieran Fitzgerald
Editing: Kieran Fitzgerald, Shane Slattery-Quintanilla, Brendan Fitzgerald
Music : Bobby Flores
Narration: Tommy Lee Jones
Film History/Prizes:
Winner Best Film – Human Rights Category – 2007 Mexico City International Film Festival
Official Selection – Morelia Film Festival |
