Add your email and we'll match picks to the services you stream at home.

Poster for Balseros

Balseros

Seen it?

2002 | 120 min | Documentary

Saturday Specialearly rating

Why it’s a Saturday Special

It earned strong reviews (88% on Rotten Tomatoes), despite almost no lasting buzz. A strong pick for the weekend.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
Made for the curious.
The mood
Eye-opening.
The pace
Moves along nicely, at 2 hr.
What might put you off
It's in Spanish, so expect subtitles (or a dub).

In the summer of 1994, a team of public television reporters filmed and interviewed seven Cubans a few days before their risky venture of setting out to sea in homemade rafts to reach the coast of the United States. Six made it far enough to be picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard. When these balseros (rafters) were finally allowed to go to the United States, the film crew went with them to a string of several cities. Seven years later, the film crew visits them again, to discover that their destiny has been in the United States. Theirs is a true story about some of the authentic survivors of our times, the human adventure of people who are shipwrecked between two worlds.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsStrong

    88% on Rotten Tomatoes, 73 on Metacritic

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsBelow par

    Nominated for 1 Oscar.

  • Box office & staying powerBelow par

    $62K worldwide; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactWeak

    About 2K people sought it out in the past year

More like this

Want more like this, picked just for you? Get my picks

Cast & crew

Directed by Josep Maria Domènech, Carlos Bosch

  • Maria Celeste ArrarasSelf (archive footage)
  • Fidel CastroSelf (archive footage)
  • Bill ClintonSelf (archive footage)
  • Guillermo ArmasSelf