Plot

The Years of Fierro tells the story of César Fierro, the oldest Mexican prisoner on death row in the United States. César has waited for an execution date for more than 30 years, always insisting that he is innocent. This documentary is a reflection on justice, imprisonment and brotherly love, through the eyes of César and his bother, Sergio. These two brothers still hope to meet again, no matter the time or the distance.

Two brothers who are separated by time and the border. One of them, Sergio Fierro, sleeps under the "Fierros" (meaning metal parts) of a children's ride at an amusement park in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; the other, César Fierro, is only a few kilometers away, across the border, unjustly imprisoned for more than 35 years on Texas' Death Row, sentenced to die and to live in torment, as his execution gets postponed time after time. The film begins with the police case of a cabdriver's murder. Gradually, through desolating images and a careful cinematographic treatment, the other story is revealed: the tale of the Fierro brothers, who, until the crime, had been very close, and who felt the word "carnal" (meaning brother and flesh from my flesh) deeper than anyone. Today, both live in profound solitude. For years, one has been going insane in the limbo of death; the other one wanders without bearing, resigned to do jobs that pay just enough to eat, without a home or a family. The Fierro brothers are characters we rarely find in cinema: charismatic, marginal, intense and melancholic. Treated with respect but not condescension, they reflect the agony of those for whom surviving is the greatest blessing and the worst tragedy.