Dry and uninspired "The Border" escapes from being weak thankful to some good performances and some good moments. But it's hard, tiring and not engaging movie about an honest border cop (Jack Nicholson) dealing with a practically whole corrupt force who smuggles illegal Mexican immigrants, drugs and gets an awful lot of money with this. Charlie, Nicholson's character, only enters in the game to satisfy his compulsive and big spender wife, who wants to live in a dream by buying stuff. But Charlie also wants to help a Mexican girl (Elpidia Carillo) her younger brother and her son to accomplish their prosperity in this new land, trying to compensate his lack of good deeds now that he's part of a dangerous system that also involves dealers and mercenaries.
Best thing was to make the bad cops as more likable folks than the blasé anti-hero. Probably because they were made as simple as possible, people to get ahead in a system that allows you to do that and they never threatened or treated Charlie differently after he turned down their offers, at first. It all changes when Charlie cannot look himself in the mirror disgusted with this situation and people start getting murdered. They are very seductive up to a certain point, and that made the movie more bearable, won't say enjoyable because it staggered frequently with some of its dramatic moments and relatively enjoyable action sequences. Its lack of purpose is upsetting just as much as the mixture of drama and thriller - only reaching memorable peaks with the climatic ending and when the baby is kidnapped.
The privileged look given by foreign directors of privileged countries (in this case, the British Tony Richardson) is always one dimensional and clichéd, never trying to be more than just a romanticized copy of reality - see my review of "Crossing Over" as well. And there's so much more to be explored here instead of just giving Charlie investigating everything or seeing his wife living this costly dream of fun barbecues, water bed and stuff. We should be able to relate a little more with the immigrant characters, hear their voices and wishes, give more substance instead of poor folks who want to live a better life - which is true - running away (as sort of pointed out) from earthquakes.
Despite its troubles, "The Border" offers a good performance from Nicholson and an outstanding Harvey Keitel as Charlie's "best buddy" who invites the good cop to a world of possibilities and illicit acts as well. At the end of day, you have something good from this film. 6/10
Best thing was to make the bad cops as more likable folks than the blasé anti-hero. Probably because they were made as simple as possible, people to get ahead in a system that allows you to do that and they never threatened or treated Charlie differently after he turned down their offers, at first. It all changes when Charlie cannot look himself in the mirror disgusted with this situation and people start getting murdered. They are very seductive up to a certain point, and that made the movie more bearable, won't say enjoyable because it staggered frequently with some of its dramatic moments and relatively enjoyable action sequences. Its lack of purpose is upsetting just as much as the mixture of drama and thriller - only reaching memorable peaks with the climatic ending and when the baby is kidnapped.
The privileged look given by foreign directors of privileged countries (in this case, the British Tony Richardson) is always one dimensional and clichéd, never trying to be more than just a romanticized copy of reality - see my review of "Crossing Over" as well. And there's so much more to be explored here instead of just giving Charlie investigating everything or seeing his wife living this costly dream of fun barbecues, water bed and stuff. We should be able to relate a little more with the immigrant characters, hear their voices and wishes, give more substance instead of poor folks who want to live a better life - which is true - running away (as sort of pointed out) from earthquakes.
Despite its troubles, "The Border" offers a good performance from Nicholson and an outstanding Harvey Keitel as Charlie's "best buddy" who invites the good cop to a world of possibilities and illicit acts as well. At the end of day, you have something good from this film. 6/10