I saw this movie this weekend and really enjoyed it. Living in an area in the Southwest with farmers/ranchers and illegal mexican immigrants, I thought the characters were very genuine and the actors portrayed them well.
I have one question though:
Why did Melquiades lie to Pete about his family and hometown?
We just saw this movie today and liked it very much. I think Melquiades had a dream place and family, and just elaborated on the details a bit. Solid acting all around, and I would expect to see Melissa Leo nominated for supporting actress next year for her role as Rachel. Tommy Lee Jones wasn’t too shabby, either.
I absolutely, positively know for a fact that it will receive zero nominations next year. Given that it got zero nominations this year. See the 2005 eligible list.
It did get a lot of other awards though.
I really did NOT like the film. It was way too long. Way too stereotypical (Texans BAD; Mexicans GOOD). Way too unbelievable (How could that corpse have looked that good after all that time in very warm Texas and Mexico?) I hated when the pack mule fell off the cliff. And the off-and-on use of subtitles made me nuts! Besides, there was vomiting.
I had the opposite reaction that annieclaus did. 
I don’t think the characters were stereotyped at all. And it’s great to see Melissa Leo getting some work; I loved her in Homicide.
I thought the film was from this year. Well then, she was unjustifiably overlooked.
One thing that bugged me: the Mexicans looked wayyyyyy too European. I really wished the casting director had used people that looked more “Indian” (as in Mayan), as most of the folks in the area where the movie took place would look.
And speaking as a medical person, yes, the corpse was very unrealistic. Oh well.
Still and all, I really enjoyed the movie and think it’ll be a good one to help give “illegals” the face of a real human being - boy, can’t go wrong with more of that.