Sleep Dealer (2008) on Netflix
PG-1320081h 30mDramaRomanceSci-Fi
Closed borders, virtual labor: workers plug into robots across the border. Memo Cruz, a hacker in Oaxaca, builds a receiver reaching distant cities. In Tijuana, Luz Martínez sells her memories.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.0/106,833 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes70%
Trailer
Plot summary
In a near-future world of sealed borders and virtual labor, Mexican workers connect to robots on the far side of the line. Memo Cruz lives with his family in Santa Ana Del Rio, Oaxaca, where they buy water by the bag and carry it home on foot, watched by cameras armed with machine guns. His father wants him to help grow crops on the family homestead, but Memo's passion is electronics and hacking, and the receiver he is building reaches farther with each attempt. Luz Martínez carries nodes in her wrist for the digital network and uploads her memories to a trading company, with loans to repay. Rudy Ramirez, a Mexican-American, pilots drones for Del Rio Water's security forces.
Cast
- Metztli Adaminaas Dolores Cruz
- Gregg Lucasas Drones TV Host
- Martín Palomaresas Gus Panchano
- Sean Garnhartas Rudy's Commander (voice)
- Montserrat Revahas Luz's Computer (voice)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sleep Dealer (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Alex Rivera's dystopia about workers who stay in Mexico and pilot robots abroad became a business plan: in 2025 Rivera said a tech chief executive had told him the film inspired his company to hire remote workers in the Global South to operate robots in the Global North, and that Sleep Dealer had turned up in start-up pitch decks.
