September 4th, 2014 
James Shotwell 
Film: Frontera
Starring: Ed Harris, Michael Pena
Direct by: Michael Berry
Frontera does not know what kind of movie it wants to be when it begins, but as the film’s first half unfolds things eventually settle into a thought provoking and ever-so-slightly political tale of murder near the US-Mexico border. Miguel (Michael Pena), a man determined to make a better life for his family, crosses into the US illegally in the dead of night with every intention of sending for his wife, Paulina, once he gets settled. Together with his traveling partner, the two cross the vast desert of southern Arizona until they find themselves on land owned by a retired Arizona sheriff (Ed Harris) and his loving wife (Amy Madigan). It’s there that they stop to rest, and in that brief down time the two witness the accidental death of the ex-sheriff’s wife. No one sees the crime except for Miguel and his equally illegal companion, which provides plenty of political kindling to fuel the dramatic fire that begins when the sheriff, Roy, arrives to discover the men still standing near the remains of his recently deceased wife.
That may all sound like one big spoiler, but I assure you it’s not. The beauty of Frontera is that this interesting setup is only one tiny part of a much larger story that continues to develop well into the film’s second and third acts. Once the police arrive on scene, Miguel and the man with him are taken into custody almost immediately, and things suddenly become more about proving their innocence than finding those truly responsible. Roy realizes this, though it admittedly takes him a while to see past his own rage and sorrow, but it will take a lot more than the beliefs of a retired officer to change the minds of the local law enforcement.
Murder is not the only type of story told in Frontera, but it’s definitely the most prominent. After Miguel’s wife (Eva Longoria) begins to fear for her husband’s safety she too makes a run for the US border. Those she entrusts to give her freedom prove to be far more evil than she could have imagine unfortunately, and things soon go from bad to worse. What happens next in her journey is far darker than anything her husband faces, and though it may be tough for some audiences to accept it brings to light a grisly reality of illegal immigration many may have never previously considered.
There is also a story of two aging crime fighters and the way both time and circumstance can change a man’s perspective. Roy has decades of experience, but having stepped away from his badge years prior it’s hard for those currently fighting criminals day in and day out to see him the way they used to. Randall Hunt (Aden Young), the current sheriff, cannot see past the statistics associated with illegal immigration long enough to consider that there may be more to the initial crime than meets the eye. As both men grow frustrated with the other, Frontera leaps from the screen with conviction and talent to spare, even as the final twist becomes glaringly obvious.
With all that positivity you may think this film is without flaw, but that is certainly not the case. Frontera, like many films attempting to channel the spirit of ‘wild west’ stories, treats women more as motivators than characters. They exist to compel men into action and nothing else. There is not a single female in the entire film who does not suffer a great loss or tragedy so that the man in her life has a reason to go on living. I don’t usually notice such things, but in a film where there are only a handful of character to begin with such issues are hard to ignore. It may be something that is typical of the genre, but that definitely does not mean it is a necessary component in telling a good story.
It’s often hard not to think that first-time director Michael Berry should have considered letting someone else take the reigns on this production. His screenplay work is wonderful and at times even thrilling, but his eye filmmaking causes Frontera to look more like a made for TV movie than a feature length effort intended for theatrical distribution. Unless the only thing happening on screen is a conversation between two people in an interrogation room, which happens enough in the second act to keep your mind distracted from the lack of skill elsewhere, Frontera has almost nothing to offer from a visual standpoint. It doesn’t need it, per say, but given the world renowned beauty of southern Arizona it would have been nice to see more of it on display in the film.
Frontera mixes illegal immigration and murder to create a story worth telling, but lackluster direction and a weak first act ultimately prevent the film from becoming the dramatic powerhouse it should have been. It’s so close to being great that it’s legitimately frustrating to watch things slowly begin to fall apart. With a better eye in the directors chair things would have been golden despite all other short comings, but without that built-in tension that comes with good direction the film never finds the kind of pace it needs to keep audiences enthralled for the duration of its 103-minute runtime.
GRADE: C+
Review written by James Shotwell Follow @utgjames
- 2015’s Most Underrated Films - December 29, 2015
- Passing The Torch: The End Of An Era For UTG - December 1, 2015
- UTG PREMIERE: Before The Streetlights – “Private Browser” - November 26, 2015
Posted in 
Tags: 