Tubegazing: Al Otro Lado

Al Otro Lado (PBS P.O.V., Aug. 1, 10 p.m. EDT): The Mexican folk song known as the corrido is a 200-year-old tradition of political protest and mythmaking through music. In the timely "Al Otro Lado" ("On the Other Side"), filmmaker Natalia Almada follows Magdiel, an aspiring corrido musician who, like generations of poor men and women from his home state of Sinaloa before him, wants a better life in America. Almada gives a heart and song to Magdiel's dangerous journey even as she paints a picture of a drug-dependent economy with few job options in the barren Mexican countryside. Grade A–