The movie simply entitled, Border, is a documentary by amateur filmmaker Chris Burgard who wanted to film the lives of those people who are dealing with this issue everyday. He claims to show both sides of the story by both filming advocates for illegal immigrants’ rights and by filming the lives of volunteers from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC).
I enjoyed the get-it-done-yourself aspect of this expose, but although Burgard tried to remain fair and balanced he never claimed to be a journalist, so as the film progressed it was easy to see which side he preferred. For example, for most of the film he takes Chris Simcox, founder of MCDC, along with him on his tour bus to have 24 hour access to him. Really? That sounds fair.
The full title of the film is Border: The Divide Between the American Dream and the American Nightmare and he does a good job of covering both sides. He interviews immigrants who’ve crossed the border, MCDC directors from all of the border states, Border Patrol agents, demonstrators, American Civil Liberties Union members, Border Action Network representatives, Isabel Garcia from Derechos Humanos, No More Deaths members, ranch owners, rough riders, and director of Humane Borders. He also traveled to Washington D.C. to talk to two politicians: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO).
The film opens with the Star Spangled Banner and this sets the tone for the audience because instantly the question of citizenship and patriotism comes to mind. The film shows these “characters” in this reality documentary as acting in accordance with their idea of what American patriotism enables them to do in order to defend America.
Throughout the film the director throws in figures to highlight the vast amount of money and resources being spent on this “War on the Border.” The most interesting fact was from a 2005 Washington Post article that stated $10.5 billion was the amount spent annually in California to cover the cost of illegal aliens including education, health care, and incarceration; $1 billion was the amount contributed by Los Angeles County alone.
A new thing I learned about from this movie was the concept of a “rape tree.” According to MCDC representatives these are trophy trees wherein coyotes take the most attractive women and rape them under specific trees and have the women then leave their panties on the limbs for other coyotes to find. It seemed like a perverse practice that has been gaining popularity in the southwestern borders.
The most intriguing part of the film is when the crew films a night expedition in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge only a mile north of the border where cell phone reception does not exist and people warn them of the merciless coyotes. You watch as thermal cameras capture a group of 29 migrants come within 50 feet of the crew and then another group of 19 drug mules also pass by. For a moment, one of the immigrants spots the camera and takes the group in a path away from the crew and thereby avoiding a precarious situation.
The filmmaker was a fan of picking an issue associated with the border like medical care, violence, the Patriot Act, and drug mules to show clips wherein these Americans contradict each other. The film was a bit long and continued to show the same story in multiple ways. In the end, I would recommend seeing this film if you are interested in seeing documentaries about the border, but take it with a grain of salt because you’ll discover quickly that this film does not clear anything up, rather it just films the complexity of this issue.
By the way this movie is 1 hour and 47 minutes long. It felt like 3 and a half hours long.
No comments:
Post a Comment