Resensi Film 'Beyond Borders'

Starring : Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen,
Teri Polo, Linus Oache
Director : Martin Campbell
Genre : Drama, romance, War
Studio : Paramont Pictures
Running Time : 2 hours 7 minutes



Recently, not so many movies picture and pay much attention on the problem of humanity. It is true that almost all issues about family and children, sexual and political affair, or even adolescent and love are broadly exposed. Movie creators seem very interested in exploring all those issues. However, such issue on poverty, racial discrimination, civil war is supposed to be invisible. It is assumed that these issues are too serious to attract and entertain people. The reason is not wrong if only we appoint a movie simply as an entertainment. In spite of the fact that in the broader sense, a movie can possibly help people to tell the society about what happen in the world, what should be done to response it, and so on.
An argument above illustrated the uproar of the society of the world in refining the vision of the movie as one kind of mass media. Along with this idea, Beyond Border that was released in October 24, 2003 had inspired many movie creators to be more sensitive to the problem of humanity as what had been performed in this movie that mainly carried out an issue of poverty, diseases disaster, and civil war.
Martin Campbell, the director of this romantic adventure Beyond Borders was very creative in correlating 3 different settings in very natural way. It seems the tale was really happening in Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya, since the physical and psychological setting was pictured very likely. For over 2 hours and 7 minutes, the movie offered many real pictures of Ethiopian’s poverty and famine, Cambodian’s violence and civil war, and Chechnya’s terrors.
The tale began with a little bit dramatic scene where Callahan (Clive Owen), a doctor who worked for aid came infirmly to a party for charity held by an aid relief International organization by showing up a suffering child coming from Ethiopia, sharing the fact about the lack of money and inspiring the organization to support his program as the sponsoring charity. He criticized that no body cared about Ethiopian problem anymore even an aid organization itself. Sarah (Angelina Jolie), who was at the place shocked but was motivated to do more than only becoming a wife of a wealthy British industrialist. Few months later, Sarah’s visit to Ethiopia confronted her with Callahan who lately supported her to be a relief worker. Sarah found many indefinable moments that tore up her tears. Ethiopia became not only a starting point of her spirit to declare herself to be a relief worker but also admiring Callahan as a good-hearted man with a high social sensitivity that flitted from country to country while crying for more help. She bonded with Callahan and his fellow relief workers strongly that it totally changed her life. Then, she began to work for United Nations. After few days returning to her husband, Sarah still could not forget all struggles for humanity and her love to Callahan. She left her husband and son to find powerless place and of course Callahan. The director pictured Cambodia as the second setting where Sarah and Callahan faced a dangerous battle field. This second setting was set out with much suspense but then they truly built up a special relationship. Beyond Border came up with a dramatic ending where the setting took a place in a conflict area of Chechnya. Sarah died when she was trying to save her love, Callahan, from prisoner.
Beyond Border did not let its audiences to take a breath almost in all scenes and it also forced them to shake their head in all along storylines, since so many touchable sympathetic moments such children suffering from diseases, famine, lack of clean water, lack of settlement and poverty, a hinterland community that lived under racial conflict, and so on. All those events were pictured very real. It seems Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya are near around us.