Producer Mohit Ramchandani makes his debut as a writer-director with a visually stark but poorly written account of a Mexican teenager forced to produce clothes for an illegal enterprise in Downtown Los Angeles.

Last year, “Sound of Freedom” made a splash in theaters, appealing to conspiracy theorists and religious groups and convincing audiences that seeing the film was a morally righteous action against those who perpetuated the horrors of human trafficking.

“City of Dreams,” from producer-turned writer-director Mohit Ramchandani, attempts to repeat the formula. This time, the “must-see” story is told from the perspective of nonverbal 15-year-old Jesús (Ari López) from the central Mexican state of Puebla. Promised to enroll in a soccer camp, a cartel-backed drug trafficker (actor Francisco Denis in an embarrassingly bad performance) convinces his father to let him go alone. Instead, the boy is held against his will in a dark, windowless Los Angeles house that functions as a secret garment factory. Throughout the ordeal, Jesús clings to his dream of playing in a packed stadium, which is reflected onscreen in glimmering, dreamlike sequences.

Hoping to appeal to Latin American audiences, the drama boasts high-profile producers such as Oscar-nominated Mexican actress and activist Yalitza Aparicio, Puerto Rican “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi and filmmaker Luis Mandoki, whose film “Innocent Voices,” about a child survivor in war-torn El Salvador, is thematically related. Aparicio’s attachment to the project isn’t the only onscreen connection to Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning “Roma,” as actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero (Fermín in “Roma”) has a small role as Jesus’ father. But despite the roster of names on board this film for its built-in social change component, the final product can’t survive on the relevance of its message alone.