The final image of Gregory Nava's masterpiece "El Norte" (1983) haunts me to the date: an human head hanging on a tree, a sign that forces us and the main characters of that film to never forget that the fight against any form of oppression still goes on, and a reminder of the past when being opposed to wrongdoings was a sign of death, execution. That was a story about an Indian family from Guatemala making his excruciating hard way to the land of opportunity in U. S., running away from years and years of being exploited in their life and their hard work. Nava's most recent film has as target some of the same problems of his eternal film, the exploitation suffered by many hard working women in the world who are just finding a way to live a decent life, making their money, living under the worst possible conditions that the third world has to offer and deal with rapists, killers, exploiters of any kind.
In his latest picture, Nava presents Jennifer Lopez playing an reporter whose mission is to investigate the countless murders of many women in a Mexican town, at first those cases could be viewed as the act of an psychotic with an certain modus operandi. Not the case. We follow the journey of an survivor of the brutalities committed by (as we see at first) a small group of men later supported by government, police, influent people and even the U. S. politics. It's the media who has the part of denouncing such crimes but not even that it's possible, since the Mexican newspaper are constantly attacked, and more deaths are added to this deadly machine.
"Bordertown", on the contrary of "El Norte" manages to have some glimpses of hope when it comes to its conclusion. Just a glimpse. The violence still goes on, the attacks on women are present not only in Juarez, the city presented here, but around the world, and there's still many injustices, lack of investigation and authorities convenience in many of the cases. What counts here is that someone who lived under better circumstances is finding a way to help the victims and bring the case to justice.
A film denouncing such complex situations deserves lots of merit, and some praise. Cinema is much more than just entertaining, it's also about informing. "Bordertown" gets some credit for such but there's so many aspects of it that made of it an weaker project, things that shouldn't happen. One can forgive some strange choices, such as having an female reporter investigating women's attack when (let's not be hypocritical here) we all know that she's a young and beautiful woman and attackers tend to notice that. Trade Lopez by, let's say Lupe Ontiveros. The story would move differently, right? One can forgive some of the excessive and quite unrealistic moments of when Lopez fights with her boss because he can't publish her story to not risk American business in Mexico, I don't buy an journalist jeopardizing her career in order to help someone, stick to the cause (but I do believe in that heated argument 'Are we business men or are we news men from "The Insider"). But one can't forgive some weak acting, poor development, terrible editing and strange cinematography that didn't help us see the movie. Some messy parts ruined what could be a great movie. It's a good movie directed by an accomplished director but it's also his weakest work so far.
For those who prefer not watching it because think this is another Jennifer Lopez flick, I would advise you to watch it, since she and Nava make great collaborations (see "My Family" and "Selena"), he makes of her an better actress. They're not at their greatest partnership but still worths a view. And then there's Antonio Banderas, Martin Sheen, Sonia Braga and a cameo of Juanes playing himself. Good cast, they're OK, but I've seen them better. The outstanding name here is the young Maya Zapata, who plays the victim who survived the aggressions. Difficult role and a memorable performance.
"Bordertown" opens our eyes to deep and real problems, talks about valuable gestures that makes a difference in a troubled world, but treated this real story in a strange and unrealistic way. Cinematically, it's unreal, sure it can't be too much truthful, otherwise it wouldn't have appeal on the audience. But even so it haven't got so much interesting. Good and that's it. 6/10.
In his latest picture, Nava presents Jennifer Lopez playing an reporter whose mission is to investigate the countless murders of many women in a Mexican town, at first those cases could be viewed as the act of an psychotic with an certain modus operandi. Not the case. We follow the journey of an survivor of the brutalities committed by (as we see at first) a small group of men later supported by government, police, influent people and even the U. S. politics. It's the media who has the part of denouncing such crimes but not even that it's possible, since the Mexican newspaper are constantly attacked, and more deaths are added to this deadly machine.
"Bordertown", on the contrary of "El Norte" manages to have some glimpses of hope when it comes to its conclusion. Just a glimpse. The violence still goes on, the attacks on women are present not only in Juarez, the city presented here, but around the world, and there's still many injustices, lack of investigation and authorities convenience in many of the cases. What counts here is that someone who lived under better circumstances is finding a way to help the victims and bring the case to justice.
A film denouncing such complex situations deserves lots of merit, and some praise. Cinema is much more than just entertaining, it's also about informing. "Bordertown" gets some credit for such but there's so many aspects of it that made of it an weaker project, things that shouldn't happen. One can forgive some strange choices, such as having an female reporter investigating women's attack when (let's not be hypocritical here) we all know that she's a young and beautiful woman and attackers tend to notice that. Trade Lopez by, let's say Lupe Ontiveros. The story would move differently, right? One can forgive some of the excessive and quite unrealistic moments of when Lopez fights with her boss because he can't publish her story to not risk American business in Mexico, I don't buy an journalist jeopardizing her career in order to help someone, stick to the cause (but I do believe in that heated argument 'Are we business men or are we news men from "The Insider"). But one can't forgive some weak acting, poor development, terrible editing and strange cinematography that didn't help us see the movie. Some messy parts ruined what could be a great movie. It's a good movie directed by an accomplished director but it's also his weakest work so far.
For those who prefer not watching it because think this is another Jennifer Lopez flick, I would advise you to watch it, since she and Nava make great collaborations (see "My Family" and "Selena"), he makes of her an better actress. They're not at their greatest partnership but still worths a view. And then there's Antonio Banderas, Martin Sheen, Sonia Braga and a cameo of Juanes playing himself. Good cast, they're OK, but I've seen them better. The outstanding name here is the young Maya Zapata, who plays the victim who survived the aggressions. Difficult role and a memorable performance.
"Bordertown" opens our eyes to deep and real problems, talks about valuable gestures that makes a difference in a troubled world, but treated this real story in a strange and unrealistic way. Cinematically, it's unreal, sure it can't be too much truthful, otherwise it wouldn't have appeal on the audience. But even so it haven't got so much interesting. Good and that's it. 6/10.