Yesterday during day #1 of my head cold, I happened to browse the “free movies on demand – Sundance Channel” option on our digital cable and came across “Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa” and pushed ‘play’.

The initial description is what caught my attention: “Twenty-Five miles from town, a million miles from mainstream society, a loose-knit community of radicals live in the desert, struggling to survive with little food, less water and no electricity, as they cling to their unique vision of the American dream.”

What followed was nothing short of eye-opening. The idea that these 400+ people live out in the Mesa desert of New Mexico with little food and water, very little government-control, and martial law is quite mind-blowing.

The stories of some of these residents’ lives is quite intriguing as the film-makers follow them for an unknown amount of time. We meet characters like “Gecko”, “Austen”, and “Maine” and follow their stories of how they arrived in the Mesa and follow a bit of their day-to-day lives living in such conditions.

Sadly the language on the Mesa is worse than any locker room conversation I ever heard and the consumption of illegal drugs is very prevelant throughout the film.

What was interesting (redeeming?) about the film is the talk of “love” by most of the residents. Their list of “laws” for life on the Mesa start with a law similar to “loving your neighbor as yourself” – and when this law isn’t kept we quickly see the potential danger that comes from not following such a Biblical mandate.

This film has definitely made me curious about life on the Mesa and other “off the grid” living that may be taking place in our country.