Hacker Cinema
Sleep Dealer
2008 · Film · 89 min
Directed by Alex Rivera
Set in a near-future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology.
12 positive2 negative9 neutralfrom 23 commenters
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31 comments on Hacker News
There's a pretty good 2008 Mexican scifi film "sleep dealer" that covers this topic more or less
Alex Rivera's 2008 movie Sleep Dealer is not without flaws, but it left quite an impression on me. I watched it it after seeing it recommended here in a comments thread on an article about military drone operators, I should probably watch it again with fresh eyes.
EDIT: Jeez, it looks like that's an 11 years old thread. Time does indeed fly.
EDIT 2: The source for the claim is paywalled, but this is how the Cultural impact chapter of the movie's Wikipedia page closes:
> In 2025, Rivera noted that a tech CEO claimed the film had been an inspiration for his company to employ a remote labour force in the Global South in order to operate robots in the Global North, and that the film has been used in pitch decks for various start-ups.
... once again bringing to mind the "At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus" meme.
Good sci-fi has always been few and far between. I love sci-fi, but I also dislike a lot of it because a lot of it's not well written from a prose craft or character depth point of view. When it is, it's probably my favorite genre.
I feel like we're lucky to get one outstanding sci-fi book or series per decade.
I'll rattle off some notable books and films/TV (or in some cases both) from the last 20 years. Some of these overlap with other genres like horror, lit-fic, etc., but I consider them all sci-fi to some degree. Some are well known and some are obscure.
The Expanse, Europa Report, Moon, Primer, The Arrival, Never Let Me Go, For All Mankind (the unofficial Expanse prequel), Sleep Dealer (indie film that stuck with me), The Color Out of Space (2019 film of Lovecraft's story), Banshee Chapter, The Peripheral, Blindsight, Annihilation, I'm sure I could keep going...
There's an indie sci-fi film called Sleep Dealer about this. It's not bad.
This was/is the plot to a movie - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
Oh, this was the plot of the Mexican sci-fi movie The Sleep Dealer: [0]
From Wikipedia: "A fortified wall has ended unauthorized Mexico-US immigration, but migrant workers are replaced by robots, remotely controlled by the same class of would-be emigrants."
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJGQl-dJ6c&pp=ygUUc2xlZXAgZGVhbGVyIHRyYWlsZXI%3D
Edit: Movies, unsorted, from the top of my mind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_of_Control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_East_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Bone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(2011_film) , seen before Covid, deemed to be realistic, and therefore better than stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_Sign_(film) somewhere in between. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film) The remakes of the Planet of the Apes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Days_Later , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Weeks_Later a little less so, though it had some great scenes of flying into London City Airport and the modern parts around that. Bladerunner in the original versions, the remake not so much. 2001: A Space Odyssey, the intro and first parts, spaceflight to the moon and such, the rest not. Too boring. I liked the sequel 2010: Odyssey Two better, actually. Avatar. Part one only. All of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise) with the exception of the crossover stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film) for the almost cyberpunkish fuckedupness of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_Untold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropia_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerball_(1975_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_Tales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendence_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppet_Masters_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Survivalist_(2015_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_(2000_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_(2007_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_(1987_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Zero_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar_18_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_(2001_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timecop Ron Silverman Badass! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Blonde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_Night_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombiana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowing_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(1998_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adjustment_Bureau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeforce_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Protocol_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(2009_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypher_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_Conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anderson_Tapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Seduction
TV-Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series) and the remake linked from there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Train_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayward_Pines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_(American_TV_series) and its prequel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_(TV_series)
WESTWORLD!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_(TV_series) Praimfaya! Yeehaa! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon_(TV_series) All of Black Mirror! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Skies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devs_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peripheral_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_by_Wolves_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_83 and sequels. ÄXZÄLLÄNNT! JAWOLLJA! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humans_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Night_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(2019_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_(miniseries) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Dome_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(2009_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprica
This all began about 2006 with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series) after having abstained from possessing a TV, or watching that by other means (with some exceptions for news and documentaries) since 1996, and mostly no cinema either.
That stuff rehooked me in a binge-watching session. Shit happens :-)
Do yoo vanna häff fries wiff thät?
/nerdsnipe off
The first 3/4 points were all almost exactly from the 2008 movie Sleep Dealer to the point where I thought you were referencing that
"Allow politicians to continue to limit legal immigration to pander to parties who think this is good policy."
Funnily enough, you've almost described the plot of the movie Sleep Dealer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
There is a fascinating, low-budget (almost ruined by its abysmal CG) movie from the 2000s called Sleep Dealer that deals with exactly this. I remember thinking it was unrealistic at the time, but given my presently much greater appreciation for the difficulty of robotics AI, it now seems prescient.
It has the vibe (aesthetics), like most modern "cyberpunk" works. The tech, hacking, drugs, and weird AI were mostly the setting for the main themes of corporate power and how technology enabled new forms of control/manipulation.
When an article compared William Gibson's visions to Second Life, he rejected the notion explicitly[1]:
But as Gully Jimson says, in The Horse's Mouth, "It wasn't the vision I had."
Neither is Second Life.
Chia and her buds build their treehouses in corporate ghost sites. That's the difference. Interstitial. Gotta be interstitial.
I've only seen the first few hours of Cyberpunk 2077, but so far it has the potential for some of the social/political themes. The "Corpo" prelude depicting a corporation abusing its power to "repo" parts of someone's body was a good start, but so far the game hasn't returned to that theme, instead focusing more on the tech/combat.
Unfortunately, the trend over the last few decades in cyberpunk has steadily shifted towards aesthetics. The only true counterexample I know of (and by far the best cyberpunk movie ever made is Sleep Dealer (2008). Its aesthetics suffered due to a very tiny budget, but it was shockingly prescient in its depiction of the "gig economy" and drone violence.
[1] http://williamgibsonblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/#8519138918500252617
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZr8A_9VZBw&disable_polymer=1
Telepresence labor opens the door low wage workers who live outside the countries jurisdiction but doing work. Be it construction, as in the movie Sleep Dealer (2008), farm work, or even a household servant.
You could just claim it uses cloud based AI to cover up any legal issues.
Or imagine if Marvin Heemeyer had access to such technology when he went on a rampage with his homemade tank. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer
Oh there's a really good film about this: "Sleep Dealer," a Mexican film.
There was a film called 'Sleep Dealer' which dealt with the potential for remote-controlling of robots.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
Over the last ~decade, far too many episodes of Max Headroom have changed from "metaphorical warning about growing social issues" to "literally happening today".
However, for what I believe will be the most prescient fictional warning about where society is currently headed, see Sleep Dealer[1].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZw2Hxdq1QE
The film Sleep Dealer[1] jumped straight to 1the top of my favorite cyberpunk fiction when it was released in 2008. It offered a different perspective on modern corporations and how they are using technology that is very different from the usual narrative told in (usually white, usually >= upper middle class) more privileged areas.
After the drama at Uber over the last ~yearSleep dealer, Sleep Dealer's now seems surprisingly prescient.
(warning: the trailer[2] is terrible and leaves o9ut ~2/3 of the movie's themes, which also include a criti8que of drone based warfare in parallel with it's discussion of Uber-style corporations optimizing labor)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJGQl-dJ6c
" so our robots are initially being controlled from Colombia." There was a sci-fi movie about that[0]. In short a wall gets built between the US and Mexico, and telerobots controlled by workers in Mexico start being used for the jobs normally performed by migrant workers.
That being said there are some interesting legal issues with telerobots. Currently, most laws we have presume the person performing the crime is physically present. For example, in the unlikely event that one of these robots injures someone or causes property damage who exactly is held liable?
Another interesting case is if an evil set of Berkeley engineering students in desperate need of robot parts for a project, pays the driver of one of these robots to disable tracking and drive it to a secret robot chop-shop. Supposedly, the penalties for the evil Berkely engineering students can be less than if they went out and kidnapped the robot, because the company allowed and trusted the worker with access to the robot.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
a similiar idea is romanticized in the 2008 mexican sci-fi movie sleep dealer, only the concept was exploiting cheap labor in full immersion controlling remote robots.
Indeed, bad CG can ruin an otherwise great movie. My go-to example is the high-concept 2008 Mexican Sci-fi thriller Sleep Dealer - had the director simply chosen to have the biggest action setpieces happen off-screen or be otherwise implied, it might have been enough of a success to make back its modest 2.5M investment, but the abysmal CG they were able to get on that budget brought the whole film down.
In similar vein, an interesting indie sci-fi movie from Mexico dealing with the topic:
Sleep Dealer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804529/
Reading this I was immediately reminded of the Del Rio Water scenes from Sleep Dealer [0]. I find the prescience of that film quite remarkable, although I suppose events like these have played through before, just without the technology aspect.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
> The operator can use foot pedals to control the robot’s movement and a virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift to experience what the robot is seeing.
Maybe it's a bit off topic, but I'd like to put here fiction sources (which I know) that explore this kind of setup:
1) A Cognitive Discontinuity story by Andrej Karpathy (2015): http://karpathy.github.io/2015/11/14/ai/
2) Sleep Dealer movie (2008): https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleep_dealer/
This is essentially the premise of the movie Sleep Dealer.
I've seen this movie already... Sleep Dealer, 2008 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804529/)
While Sleep Dealer had a bigger budget than Primer's $7000 (I still loved primer), as you can see in the trailer/etc they were obviously limited in the CG they could afford. I think they work around that limitation quite well.
A mostly-spoiler-free example might be the "simstim social media" service: by looks it's pretty cheesy, but in concept it's a perfect caricature of modern monetized youtube. (from 2008, well before the modern "youtuber" phenomena).
Some people may not like that it's in Spanish (subtitled).
As a long-time fan of everything "cyberpunk", I stand by my claim that Sleep Dealer is the best cyberpunk film ever made - even if the filmmakers were dreaming somewhat larger than their budget.
Speaking of drone operators...
If you can take the low-budget effects, I recommend watching the movie Sleep Dealer[1]. It is probably the best cyberpunk[2] film ever made; unfortunately, it never got a lot of attention.
The film deals primarily with telepresence, with an emphasis on the remote operation of drones. Not just military drones, either; drones also enable "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" workers.
[1] http://www.sleepdealer.com/
[2] A lot of people confuse cyberpunk with flashy tech and network shenanigans; Gibson describes cyberpunk as stories about the interstitial - the people caught in the cracks of "legitimate" society (consensus reality).
There's an interesting Mexican science fiction film that explores some of the future described in this piece: http://alexrivera.com/project/sleep-dealer/
Some discussion of those themes: http://fpif.org/science_fiction_from_below/
I found it flawed, but brilliant. It deserved more attention than it got.
If you're interested in a movie related to the subject, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer
Ignore the main plot and look to the interactions between the protagonist and the drones:
> catches him monitoring a frequency used by the drones, an act that warrants a brutal attack
Someone in a Reddit comment coined the term 'glasshole', likely in reference to the type who walk around with the bluetooth piece talking loudly about 'important' things.
For those who have seen the film Children of Men, there's a scene in there of a young man in a nice apartment who is playing video games on a strange, futuristic headset which, if I remember correctly, somewhat resembled Glass. He looked like he had psychological problems.
We're getting closer and closer to Surrogates/Gamer/Sleep Dealer/etc, something I'm not excited about at all.
There was a movie fairly recently called Sleep Dealer which incorporated virtual labor as a plot element.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804529/
Yeah, that's cool. It's like the movie "Sleep Dealer". They looked for someone watching a feed and dropped a bomb on his house.