Before Emilia Perez won her an Academy Award, Zoe Saldaña played another Mexican woman reckoning with her country in a much smaller film. The film in question was Beyond the Borders AKA The Absence of Eden – the directorial feature debut of Saldaña's artist husband Marco Perego. Two years after its initial production, the film is now available on digital, and its timing couldn't be more prescient.
Imagined as a triptych of stories, Beyond the Borders follows three main characters, whose relationship with the American-Mexican Border is complicated and personal. There is Esmeralda (Saldaña), who finds herself fleeing her homeland in desperation, following a crime committed in a moment of self-defence. There's Shipp (Garrett Hedlund), an ICE agent who is still wrestling with the moral implications and realities of his job. Then there's his girlfriend Yadira (Adria Arjona), an undocumented immigrant trying to prove to everyone around her that she is a full-blooded American.
It's a massively bleak film – it doesn't sugar-coat the harsh nature of America's current immigration policies and the ways in which the State views ‘illegal aliens'. In many ways, however, it's balanced in its bleakness. Perego shows both sides involved, ICE and Mexican immigrants, with empathy (at least for our leads), and there is no let-up for either side. There are moments of tenderness, such as brief interludes to show Shipp and Yadira falling in love, or Esmeralda comforting a young girl also on the immigration trail with her. However, these are few and far between, and as such the film can drain the viewer – leaving no room to breathe or to even process the difficult situations our protagonists encounter.
The film runs at a tight 85 minutes, but you wouldn't know it. Given the serious tone, it feels much longer. This is only exacerbated by the delegation of time given to each narrative, which remain largely separate until the final scenes of the film. Both Shipp's story and Esmeralda's stories are fascinating explorations of the complications of life on the border, but the determination to tell them both means that you don't truly feel the power of either. The significance of this issue is never undermined, and the film is hugely well-intentioned in its desire to raise awareness of the humanity of the individuals whose lives have been entirely altered in their quest for the American dream. That being said, its pacing and script are messy, and while we get peeks at Esmeralda, Shipp and Yadira, we are never fully given a window into their lives.
As a debut, Perego's vision is fairly well-directed, and it is clear that his background is as a visual artist. While his script, co-written with Rick Rapoza, is lacking, the heavy lifting of the film is done by Director of Photography Javier Julia, whose partnership with Perego is truly promising. The cinematography is impressive from the very first frames; particularly memorable are the sequences of the party travelling through the Mexican desert to reach the border. At moments it was reminiscent of Io Capitano visually, another film about the search for refuge.
As well, his industry connections ensure that the central cast of this film just work. Saldaña's emotive depiction of Esmeralda occasionally tips the line into overdramatic, but for the most part is nuanced and moving. Hedlund's stoicism shows just enough vulnerability to feel the moral turmoil that Shipp feels. Arjona lights up the screen every time she is on it, and when we discover the truth of who she is, her desperation is perfectly pitched.
In theory, Beyond the Borders, is a powerful film about the immigrant experience. In practice, it's just too slow, and not quite fully-realised. Perego shows the makings of a potentially great filmmaker, especially if he continues to work with Julia, but there's still a long way to go.
Beyond the Borders is available to rent/buy online now
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