In Denis Villeneuve’s crime/thriller Sicario (2015), a
meticulously crafted visual sequence depicts how wealth & peace (Texas, US)
lays side by side with poverty & chaos (Ciudad Juarez, Mexico), separated
by a thin border. The disparity we witness is absolutely distressing. Tony Richardson’s 1982 movie The Border was one of the rare, early films to address
the same disparity between poor Mexicans and moneyed Americans. It connects the
insipid consumerism and authorities’ (border patrol) lust for money with the
worse treatment of Mexicans, attempting to cross into the ‘land of dreams’. The
Border tells a simple story in a straightforward manner, providing neat
resolutions for the characters involved. Yet, the subject matter is examined
with sensitivity and for the two-thirds of the narrative the brooding conflict
is well-staged. The other important reason to watch the film is Jack Nicholson’s performance, who completely immerses himself in the central character
of an afflicted border patrol officer Charlie Smith. He brilliantly underplays in
the role, keeping away his regular, time-worn antics.
The Border opens in a cathedral in Mexico as a young single
mother Maria (Elpidia Carrillo) worships with her small baby, accompanied by
her younger brother. A strong earthquake razes down the cathedral and other
buildings of the impoverished town. Maria is left without a home and livelihood.
Like the other residents of town, she makes an arduous trip to the United
States. Charlie Smith (Jack Nicholson) is a middle-aged man with thinning hair, holding a dismal
job position of an officer for the US Immigration Services in Los Angeles. When
we first see him he is negotiating with the boss of a clothing factory on which one
of the illegal Mexicans he should arrest to fulfill the quota. The boss who
exploits the illegals by offering meager pay points out two Mexicans
youngsters. Charlie detains them, reads their right in the most inexpressive
manner. He is sure that the detained Mexicans will immediately make a trip back
to do the same job. Charlie lives in a nondescript mobile-home with
his scatterbrained, materialistic wife Marcy (Valerie Perrine). He has no
friends and has learned to tolerate his wife and her declamations. She
convinces him into transferring to El Paso, Texas.
Marcy’s high-school friend Savannah has sent a brochure of a
duplex, situated next to her house. Hoping for a change and to satisfy his wife’s needs,
Charlie decides to move to Texas, despite the lack of savings. The couple are
greeted by frivolous Savannah and her border patrol guard husband Cat (Harvey Keitel). Thanks to Cat, Charlie gets the same job. First day on the job,
Charlie learns how the department is understaffed and lacks funds. He also
witnesses the death of a veteran guard – shot and killed by dope-movers. Soon,
Charlie understands this job is as ineffectual as his previous one. And, adding
up to his woes, wife Marcy is intent on realizing their dream home, riddled
with waterbed and swimming pool. She insists ‘we don’t have pay for this stuff’,
failing to understand how they are one missed mortgage payment away from the
dream turning into a nightmare. All she wants is to make Charlie happy and
perfectly fit in the glitzy social circle. Things get worse when Cat wants to
let Charlie in on the ‘deal’. The deal is to ensure the safe passage of
illegals (aka ‘wetbacks’ or ‘wets’) into US to work for the shady businessmen. Each
trip could fetch a lot of dollars and the patrol guards also have to ensure
there’s monopoly on the human-trafficking business. Meanwhile, the young
Mexican woman with the baby makes it over to the border and gets stopped by
Charlie’s team. The pure beauty and innocence of Maria makes Charlie think that
she is the only good thing in this sleazy world. He begins to empathize with
her plight and silently vows to guarantee her peace and safety.
The film was made a year before Gregory Nava acclaimed
independent cinema ‘El Norte’ (1983). While, The Border isn’t as trenchant
examination of the immigrant experience as ‘El Norte’, it still boldly
addressed a rare subject for an American mainstream cinema (shot on location in
El Paso). Alas, the film’s low-key nature and lack of high-wire action
sequences turned it into box-office failure. Over the years, the film has gained
the ‘underrated’ status mainly due to the great ensemble cast, led by brooding
performance from Jack Nicholson. British film-maker Tony Richardson, who made
acclaimed features like A Taste of Honey (1961), The Loneliness of Long
Distance Runner (1962), Tom Jones (1963), etc moved to California by mid 1970s.
Mr. Richardson’s works were often about men with rebellious streak; the ones
who fight for their personal freedom. For The Border, he collaborated with three script writers (Deer Hunter writer Deric Washburn was one of the
writers). Director Richardson and his writers target the senseless immigration
policies of the Reagan-era (which has only become more senseless nowadays). By moving to
and fro from the unfulfilling materialism to gross exploitation of humans,
Richardson zeroes-in on the twisted nature of ‘American Dream’. The hypocrisy
of the so-called dream, designed out of rampant consumerism, is appalling: the
prosperity partly derived from cheap labor/slave trade and through shady
dealings between US authorities and master criminals.
The film, however, travels in a pretty simple, conventional
manner. As a mainstream cinema, the narrative is more interested in the
salvation of its central character than in exploring the profound layers of the
illegal immigrant labor ecosystem. And, that’s fairly understandable. Moreover,
The Border is a low-key character study of a man, sick of amorality and greed
around him. While Marcy’s idea of attaining the dream is centered on the
accumulation of materials, Charlie just dreams of ‘feeling good about
something’ (words he utters upon meeting Maria in her tin-roofed abode in one
of the emotionally resonant scenes). The simmering conflict and the thirst for
righteousness are masterfully expressed by Nicholson. Although the narrative
trajectory becomes predictable in the third act, it never gets didactic or
strays away from the well-etched realism (except for the final action
sequence). Charlie’s quest is also never confined to sentimentality. Even
though Maria is repeatedly symbolized like a divine figure, Charlie doesn’t
take a path of senseless revenge to save her. The violence here is sudden and
doesn’t pass off feelings of jubilation that the bad guys are down. He just wants to shake off
the dirt from his conscience. May be the final image is too good to believe,
yet it etches calm beauty that’s worth savoring.
Trailer
The Border (108 minutes) is an earnest portrayal of a man
trying to cling to basic human decency in an environment of corruption and
indifference. It’s worth watching for the compassionate handling of the subject
and for its emotionally affecting performances.
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