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Daily Archive > DVD
of the Day > 04/05/04
Beyond
the Borders of Good Storytelling
By Jason Davis
A
great concept is disastrously sabotaged by an inane
script, insipid characters, and dialogue written to
sound cool in a trailer. The DVD offers an adequate
array of extras, but it's unlikely the film will inspire
much interest in them.
Beyond
Borders
Caspian
Tredwell-Owen
 
 
Sarah Bauford
(Angelina Jolie), daughter-in-law of a wealthy Englishman
who's pulled funding for Ethiopian relief workers,
is stirred to action by Nick Callahan (Clive Owen),
a doctor who ruthlessly pursues any opportunity to
save the lives of the disenfranchised. Sarah travels
to Ethiopia where she witnesses first hand the conditions
under which relief workers try to make a difference
and dedicates her life to the cause. Over the years,
Sarah continues to abandon her family in favor of
following Nick to various hostile locales where he
tries to make a difference by any means necessary.
In one of
the film's earliest scenes, Callahan invades a black-tie
function recognizing Sarah's father-in-law to present
an emaciated Ethiopian child to the wealthy dining
on their twenty quid meals. As he makes his speech,
someone in his audience tosses a banana to the child.
This action elicits adolescent snickers from the entire
assembly. Less than fifteen minutes into the story,
all credibility is gone. It seems unlikely that (a)
this cruel act would be perpetrated in this circumstance
by these people, and (b) if it did happen, the entire
room would find it funny. The filmmakers have kindly
informed the audience that "these rich people
are bad."
 Callahan
has a tendency to utter cynical one-liners in a manner
that suggests he's waiting for someone to make a trailer
about his harrowing exploits. This is all well and
good if you're Indiana Jones or Han Solo in a piece
of escapist adventure cinema, but the tone of the
film makes Callahan seem like a flippant ass.
Sarah is
seen on no less than two occasions to abandon her
children in order to go traipsing through war-torn
hellholes that could easily claim her life. It's a
noble thing to endanger yourself for the forgotten
masses in faraway lands, but let's think about her
responsibility to the people she brought into the
world herself. Her trip to find Callahan in Cambodia
almost plays like a booty call. This story could have
been good, but it only succeeds in insulting its audience.
- Commentary
by director Martin Campbell and producer Lloyd Phillips
- "Behind the Lines: The Making of Beyond
Borders Parts 1 and 2"
- "The Writing of Beyond Borders: A
Conversation with Screenwriter Caspian Tredwell- Owen"
- "Angelina: Goodwill Ambassador"
While admirable
in providing with screenwriter Caspian Tredwell-Owen
with his own interview, this 15-minute chat proves
to be a laundry list of his research and does little
to interest a viewer in his work. All the sadder since
Tredwell-Owen, who recently sold his sci-fi spec The
Island for $1M vs. $1.5M, ideally could have
had some enlightening things to say about the writing
process and his approach to it.
The other
extras provide a technical commentary on the logistics
of shooting a film on this scale and filmmaking at
large, but no great investigation into the storytelling
of this film.
 
Though the
underlying research on refugee relief proves a solid
basis for the film, the story and characters built
upon it fail to inspire any interest in a movie that
lets its music decide how you feel. What's left is
an adequate DVD presentation of a film that wastes
the viewer's time.
Beyond
Borders
Paramount Home Video
Rated R
126 min.
$29.99
Buy it now for
only $24.59 (save 18%)
Rent it now
At the age of 21, Jason Davis was hit in the face
with a car. He has since devoted his life to writing.
He lives in Burbank with his girlfriend, a fish, and
a plant called Pete.
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