ACADEMY AWARD® SHORTLISTED, BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE.
In Mexico City, the government operates fewer than 45 emergency ambulances for a population of 9 million. This has spawned an underground industry of for-profit ambulances often run by people with little or no training or certification. An exception in this ethically fraught, cutthroat industry, the Ochoa family struggles to keep their financial needs from jeopardizing the people in their care. The Ochoas operate out of one of these private ambulances with an all-male crew ranging in age and experience. This dangerous job, however, is not a lucrative business. Many times, their passengers will neither have insurance or enough money to pay for their services, however necessary their intervention may have been. When a crackdown by corrupt police pushes the family into greater hardship, the family face increasing moral dilemmas even as they continue providing essential emergency medical services.
Mixing riveting and grueling scenes of life-or-death moments and candid moments outside of their job, including scenes like Josué playing in the back of the ambulance, Juan’s therapeutic phone calls to his girlfriend, and the family’s routine to get ready for work, Midnight Family is both a compassionate portrait of a working-class family and a frightening ride through a broken healthcare system that risks the lives of both patients and providers like the Ochoa family.
