Review of Crossing Over (2009) by Mark A — 22 Jul 2010
A difficult film, if one has an ounce of compassion for the poor, the tired, the huddled masses yearning to live free. There was a time when America officially welcomed immigrant populations and strove to assimilate them into our culture.
This film serves to remind how far we have moved away from that ideal. Harrison Ford seemed perfectly cast as the weary immigration officer who seems to go through the motions for the most part and yet can still be moved by the plight of a young single mother.
Ray Liotta is an immigration official whose marriage to Ashley Judd, an immigration defense lawyer, holds power over a young woman seeking her green card and exercises that power in a most sleazy manner.
The rest of the cast is somewhat less well known, but each brings a certain authenticity to the roles. Is this film manipulative? Certainly. Does it point out the inconsistencies and illogical nature of our immigration enforcement procedures? Definitely.
Both sides of the immigration debate can glean fodder for their points of view here, but it is obvious where the film's producers stand on this issue. This viewer was moved to tears, sometimes in sadness over the plight of some of the characters, and more often in anger over the wrongheadedness of some of the immigration enforcers.
That 9/11 changed us as a nation irrevocably is clear, whether that change was for the better is seriously debatable.
This review of Crossing Over (2009) was written by Mark A on 22 Jul 2010.
Crossing Over has generally received mixed reviews.
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