Released via Nonesuch Records, Al Otro Lado (On the Other Side) is a sparse, haunting, and deeply cinematic collection of songs. While it arrived just a year before his Oscar-winning work on Brokeback Mountain would make him a household name in Hollywood, this album stands as the definitive bridge between his rock producing career and his identity as a film composer.

Reviewers from IMDb and other platforms have highlighted the strong performances of the child actors, particularly Adrian Alonso in the Mexican segment, while some critics noted that the film occasionally leans into sentimentality. Documentary of the Same Name

In lesser hands, combining Andean folk instruments with gritty, political New York hip-hop would be a recipe for disaster—a clumsy attempt at world-music fusion. However, Santaolalla treats the ronrocco and the acoustic guitar as he would a sample, providing a hypnotic, looped bedrock for Immortal Technique’s visceral lyrics. The song serves as the album's emotional anchor, explicitly addressing the struggles of the Latino diaspora, police brutality, and the identity crisis of living between two worlds. It validates the album’s title, proving that the "other side" is not just a physical border, but a psychological state.

Won Best Film and Audience Award at the Lleida Latin-American Film Festival (2006); Vanessa Bauche won Best Actress.