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Review

Based on a true story, No Turning Back has good intentions of portraying the multi-leveled problems illegal immigrants face in America.
After Hurricane Mitch destroyed their lives and loved ones in Honduras, Pablo (Jesus Nebot) and his young daughter (Chelsea Rendon) struggle to rebuild a life in California, until Pablo gets involved in a hit-and-run accident. The story continues as their run from the police is captured by a young documentary filmmaker, Soid (Lindsay Price) who bribes them into telling their story for her camera.
The story is good, bridging both the heartbreak experienced by the family of the hit-and-run victim, and Pablo’s personal struggle to keep his promise to never desert his daughter. Soid’s edgy film-within-a-film helps give the story immediacy and works to tie the two extremely different families together, but Soid’s Valley Girl attitude is over-the-top along with other side-plots that carry a dramatic artificiality.
No Turning Back is a valiant first effort from Jesus Nebot, who co-wrote, directed/produced and stars in the film, and with recent films such as Jim Sheridan’s In America and Stephen Frear’s Dirty Pretty Things, which also tackle the power of the immigrant’s struggle in a new world, this film is an interesting one.