Broken Ankle

LOGLINE: "Housebound parolee David Mendoza goes stir crazy, confined to his houseboat and working as a janitor, the only job he could get after pleading guilty to a crime he didn't commit. But his life truly turns upside down when his mother disappears in an ICE raid and his ankle monitor won't allow him to leave home to find her."

THEME: Nothing is more personal than the law misapplied.

Broken Ankle is about an innocent housebound parolee, David, whose immigrant mother is caught up in an ICE raid. The bulk of the action centers around David working the phone, trying to find her. Meanwhile, he and his therapist fall in love, he gradually develops a talent for playing the guitar (by accompanying Hold muzak), and he eventually passes the bar. This is a gripping drama with stirring elements of romance and a touch of humor. For more details, read on.

The story of Broken Ankle opens with David Mendoza (40) grinding through another work day as a paralegal in a San Francisco law firm specializing in immigration. David is the engine that keeps the pro bono part of the firm running. Despite David's professional competence, he's taken the bar exam three times and failed to pass. It's dampened his confidence, and he's given up trying.

David's best friend from law school, Dustin Beckford (40) is also his boss, and Dustin's parents are David's landlords. David is truly beholden to the Beckford family. Despite their polar opposite lifestyles, the fates of David and Dustin are intertwined in more ways than one. Dustin is a hard core party animal, but David's athletic proclivity nearly ends his life in a bicycle accident.

David winds up in a weeks-long coma, body battered, ankle shattered, only to awaken in a Mendocino County hospital facing charges for a crime he didn't commit. The circumstantial evidence against him is so strong, he is forced into a plea bargain. With urging from his lawyer - Dustin - David signs the confession that destroys his life. He is sentenced to six months in jail and two years' parole.

Fast forward to eighteen months after his accident, David works as a janitor at a Fort Bragg community college. Several scenes expose the rhythm and facts of his life - his menial labor, his court-mandated therapy sessions, his weekly poker games, and the smothering presence of his immigrant mother, Catarina. Most of all, his movement is hampered not just by his permanent limp, but also by the ankle monitor that prohibits him from going anywhere but work, therapy, and home - a 1970s-era houseboat he inherited from his father.

In the midst of this melancholy routine, Catarina gets caught up in an ICE sweep and disappears. David's first response is despair followed by an iron resolve to find her. He spends all of his spare time working the phones, calling government agencies, searching the Internet and otherwise grinding through a system he was once part of.

Despite his tragic circumstances, the most inconvenient person possible falls in love with him - his therapist, Nia Lockhart (40). Nia's daughter Elvira (19) points out that part of David's desirability comes from the dignity with which he carries his burdens. While David and Nia struggle against the their unsanctioned feelings, it's Elvira who convinces each of them that the two are meant to be together.

Just when they finally give way to their attraction, David himself is swept up by ICE and unlawfully detained.

To find out what happens next, you'll either need to watch the movie or be part of it.

Besides major roles mentioned here, there are numerous characters who move briskly through David's life experiences, such as various government bureaucrats, hospital staff, sheriff's deputies, police officers, lawyers, fishermen, and the folks who populate the Noyo River harbor where David's houseboat is moored in Fort Bragg, California.