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Bordertown (2006 film)
Encyclopedia
Bordertown is a 2006 American
drama
motion picture, written and directed by Oscar
-nominated Gregory Nava
and executive produced by David Bergstein, Cary Epstein, Barbara Martinez-Jitner, and Tracee Stanley-Newell. The film features Jennifer Lopez
, Antonio Banderas
, Martin Sheen
, among others.
The film is inspired by the true story of the numerous female homicides in Ciudad Juárez
and tells the story of an inquisitive American reporter sent in by her American newspaper to investigate the murders.
by opening large maquiladora
s right across the United States–Mexico border
. The maquiladoras hire mostly Mexican women to work long hours for little money in order to produce mass quantity products.
Lauren Adrian (Jennifer Lopez
), an impassioned American
news reporter for the "Chicago Sentinel" wants to be assigned to the Iraq front-lines to cover the war. Instead, her editor George Morgan (Martin Sheen
) assigns her to investigate a series of slayings involving young maquiladora factory women in a Mexican bordertown.
Worker Eva (Maya Zapata), originally from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca
, takes a bus to go back to her shanty-town home after work. After a while she is the last passenger still in the bus. The driver asks her if she minds if he goes to a gas station to fill up, and Eva agrees. However, he takes her to a remote place and assaults and rapes her, together with another man, who then tries to strangle her. The two men, believing her dead, bury her alive. With the little energy she has left, Eva escapes.
Adrian heads to Ciudad Juárez
, Chihuahua, on the U.S.-Mexico border to investigate the murders, hoping that if she does well she'll be assigned to Iraq by Morgan. In Juárez, she meets up with Diaz (Antonio Banderas
), whom she had been working with six years before, and who is the editor for the local newspaper El Sol de Juárez. She also meets Eva.
The three try to find the two killers and have them prosecuted. For this purpose she starts working in the factory, in order to act as bait on the bus ride. The driver tries to assault her in the same way he did Eva, and although police assistance has been arranged, they are at the wrong place. She manages to escape her attacker. Later Diaz gets shot and killed in a drive-by shooting. Eva changes her mind and does not want to testify any more for fear of revenge, and tries to flee to the US, together with others in the trunk of a car. She gets caught and is sent back. Adrian convinces her to testify after all. For political reasons the Chicago Sentinel refuses to publish Adrian's story. Adrian quits and becomes the editor for El Sol de Juárez.
s in Ciudad Juárez
, Chihuahua, a maquiladora
border city across the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) from El Paso, Texas
. Estimates of the murders conflict, yet, conservatively speaking over four hundred women, maybe many more, have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered since 1993 in and around Ciudad Juárez.
Throughout the years various people have been arrested for the murders in Ciudad Juárez. The latest arrested suspect is Edgar Alvarez Cruz. Cruz was charged on September 8, 2006, of one murder but is suspected of several others by the authorities. Cruz's family say he has a solid alibi.
When Gregory Nava first heard about the murders in Ciudad Juárez he wanted to do something. He said that his vision became to tell the stories through "an exciting thriller-drama."
Nava approached Jennifer Lopez to do the film in 1998 and she was receptive. Lopez said, "Since first hearing of these atrocities in 1998, when Gregory Nava came to me with this project, I desperately wanted to tell this story. I began working to ensure we made this film in order to bring the attention of the world to [the] tragedy and to pressure the Mexican government to bring to justice those responsible for these horrible crimes."
Director Gregory Nava and executive producer Barbara Martinez-Jitner believed that the film would bring strong reactions. Nava has said the production received threats against himself and the cast. Also, there was stolen equipment and intimidation of film crew members when they filmed in Mexico.
According to Martinez-Jitner, when they first filmed in Ciudad Juárez, the police began threatening locals who were helping the production. They also began stalking the crew. A camera truck was vandalized and $100,000 worth of film equipment was stolen.
Bordertown places the blame for the murders upon the Mexican government, the United States and the maquiladora assembly plants that were brought rapidly into existence by the North American Free Trade Agreement
.
Nava said, "[When] there are very powerful forces involved, you're going to be attacked. I expect the Mexican government to get very upset about it."
, the magic realism
of novelist Gabriel García Márquez
, and the social dramas of England
's Charles Dickens
. He also said the screenplay was a return to an El Norte
type of screenplay (Oscar nominated). In El Norte he created a screenplay from many of the interviews he conducted. He did the same in Bordertown.
A second $12.65 million loan could be called in by NMSI before its November 2007 due date because of the late payments. The second loan calls for zero interest because the state of New Mexico
will take ten percent of any profits the film might make. Film producers said the delay of payment was due to filming taking longer than expected.
At one point the film was in development with both New Line Cinema
and MGM.
, in the United States; and Nogales, Sonora
, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and Mexicali, Baja California, in Mexico.
on May 18, 2006 and again at the Berlin International Film Festival
on February 15, 2007 before being released to theatres. It was nominated for a Golden Bear.
on January 29, 2008.
According to media reports, the audience reacted with a mixture of "boos and muted applause" when the film finished screening.
Variety
magazine film critic, Leslie Felperin, had a problem with some of the arguments made in the film, namely: that the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the exploitation of Mexican labor directly led to the killing of many women in Ciudad Juárez. Felperin wrote, "Possible co-factors or causes of the real crime spree, such as rife drug-related criminality, domestic violence largely ignored by the authorities, and the possibility that at least some of the culprits may be U.S. citizens crossing the border to kill for kicks, are not explored here." As for the film, Felperin calls the movie "only fair-to-poor."
Nominations
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
motion picture, written and directed by Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-nominated Gregory Nava
Gregory Nava
Gregory Nava is a film director, producer and screenplay writer, of Mexican and Basque heritage.-Education:...
and executive produced by David Bergstein, Cary Epstein, Barbara Martinez-Jitner, and Tracee Stanley-Newell. The film features Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, among others.
The film is inspired by the true story of the numerous female homicides in Ciudad Juárez
Female homicides in Ciudad Juárez
The phenomenon of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, called in Spanish the feminicidios and las muertas de Juárez , involves the violent deaths of hundreds of women since 1993 in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El...
and tells the story of an inquisitive American reporter sent in by her American newspaper to investigate the murders.
Plot
The opening titles explain that American corporations are using the North American Free Trade AgreementNorth American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
by opening large maquiladora
Maquiladora
A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...
s right across the United States–Mexico border
United States–Mexico border
The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...
. The maquiladoras hire mostly Mexican women to work long hours for little money in order to produce mass quantity products.
Lauren Adrian (Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
), an impassioned American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
news reporter for the "Chicago Sentinel" wants to be assigned to the Iraq front-lines to cover the war. Instead, her editor George Morgan (Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
) assigns her to investigate a series of slayings involving young maquiladora factory women in a Mexican bordertown.
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
, takes a bus to go back to her shanty-town home after work. After a while she is the last passenger still in the bus. The driver asks her if she minds if he goes to a gas station to fill up, and Eva agrees. However, he takes her to a remote place and assaults and rapes her, together with another man, who then tries to strangle her. The two men, believing her dead, bury her alive. With the little energy she has left, Eva escapes.
Adrian heads to Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
, Chihuahua, on the U.S.-Mexico border to investigate the murders, hoping that if she does well she'll be assigned to Iraq by Morgan. In Juárez, she meets up with Diaz (Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
), whom she had been working with six years before, and who is the editor for the local newspaper El Sol de Juárez. She also meets Eva.
The three try to find the two killers and have them prosecuted. For this purpose she starts working in the factory, in order to act as bait on the bus ride. The driver tries to assault her in the same way he did Eva, and although police assistance has been arranged, they are at the wrong place. She manages to escape her attacker. Later Diaz gets shot and killed in a drive-by shooting. Eva changes her mind and does not want to testify any more for fear of revenge, and tries to flee to the US, together with others in the trunk of a car. She gets caught and is sent back. Adrian convinces her to testify after all. For political reasons the Chicago Sentinel refuses to publish Adrian's story. Adrian quits and becomes the editor for El Sol de Juárez.
Cast
- Jennifer LopezJennifer LopezJennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
as Lauren Adrian: reporter for the Chicago Sentinel, and daughter of Mexican immigrants. - Antonio BanderasAntonio BanderasJosé Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
as Alfonso Diaz: founder of El Sol. - Maya Zapata as Eva Jimenez: factory worker and victim.
- Sônia BragaSônia BragaSônia Maria Campos Braga is a Brazilian actress. She has been nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award.-Early life:...
as Teresa Casillas: founder of an organization trying to help the women in Juárez. - Teresa RuizTeresa Ruiz (actress)Teresa Ruiz [teˈreˈsa ruˈis], born December 21, 1986, is a Mexican actress who has appeared in several Mexican films.-Early life:Teresa Ruiz was born in Oaxaca. In 1999 Teresa Ruiz lived in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and became an active member of Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa A.C...
as Cecila Rojas: Young factory worker. - Juan Diego BottoJuan Diego BottoJuan Diego Botto-Rota is an Argentine-Spanish actor.Botto's father disappeared during the Argentine Dirty War when Juan Diego was only two years old...
as Marco Antonio Salamanca: son of the extremely rich Salamanca family, owner of the maquiladora. - Zaide Silvia GutierrezZaide Silvia GutiérrezZaide Silvia Gutiérrez is a Mexican-born actress whose breakout role was the 1983 film El Norte.Gutiérrez attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, with highest honors, in Dramatic Literature and Theater, was a scholar in four languages including...
as Lourdes Jimenez: Eva's concerned mother. - Rene Rivera as Aris Rodriguez: rapist.
- Irineo Alvarez as Domingo Esparza: bus driver and rapist.
- Martin SheenMartin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
as George Morgan: Lauren's boss. - Randall BatinkoffRandall BatinkoffRandall Matthew Batinkoff is an American actor.Batinkoff was born in Monticello, New York and was raised on an egg farm near Ferndale, New York...
as Frank Kozerski: Lauren's co-worker and friend. - Kate del CastilloKate del CastilloKate del Castillo is a leading Mexican film, theater, and television actress.- Early life :Kate Del Castillo is the daughter of Kate Trillo and Eric del Castillo, a legend of the Mexican cinema's golden era and a former soap opera actor himself...
as Elena Diaz. - JuanesJuanesJuan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez , better known as Juanes is a Colombian musician who was a member of heavy metal band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. In 2000, his solo debut album Fíjate Bien won three Latin Grammy Awards.Juanes has sold more than 13 million albums...
as himself.
Background
The motion picture is based on a series of unsolved murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s in Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
, Chihuahua, a maquiladora
Maquiladora
A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...
border city across the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) from El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. Estimates of the murders conflict, yet, conservatively speaking over four hundred women, maybe many more, have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered since 1993 in and around Ciudad Juárez.
Throughout the years various people have been arrested for the murders in Ciudad Juárez. The latest arrested suspect is Edgar Alvarez Cruz. Cruz was charged on September 8, 2006, of one murder but is suspected of several others by the authorities. Cruz's family say he has a solid alibi.
When Gregory Nava first heard about the murders in Ciudad Juárez he wanted to do something. He said that his vision became to tell the stories through "an exciting thriller-drama."
Nava approached Jennifer Lopez to do the film in 1998 and she was receptive. Lopez said, "Since first hearing of these atrocities in 1998, when Gregory Nava came to me with this project, I desperately wanted to tell this story. I began working to ensure we made this film in order to bring the attention of the world to [the] tragedy and to pressure the Mexican government to bring to justice those responsible for these horrible crimes."
Director Gregory Nava and executive producer Barbara Martinez-Jitner believed that the film would bring strong reactions. Nava has said the production received threats against himself and the cast. Also, there was stolen equipment and intimidation of film crew members when they filmed in Mexico.
According to Martinez-Jitner, when they first filmed in Ciudad Juárez, the police began threatening locals who were helping the production. They also began stalking the crew. A camera truck was vandalized and $100,000 worth of film equipment was stolen.
Bordertown places the blame for the murders upon the Mexican government, the United States and the maquiladora assembly plants that were brought rapidly into existence by the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
.
Nava said, "[When] there are very powerful forces involved, you're going to be attacked. I expect the Mexican government to get very upset about it."
Screenplay
The inspiration for the story, according to Nava, was the work of Guatemalan writer Miguel Ángel AsturiasMiguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales was a Nobel Prize–winning Guatemalan poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and diplomat...
, the magic realism
Magic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...
of novelist Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, and the social dramas of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. He also said the screenplay was a return to an El Norte
El Norte (film)
El Norte is an American and British film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984....
type of screenplay (Oscar nominated). In El Norte he created a screenplay from many of the interviews he conducted. He did the same in Bordertown.
Financing
Mobius Entertainment, the production company, borrowed money to complete the project from the New Mexico State Investment Council (NMSI) but was late in paying back the loan in March 2006.A second $12.65 million loan could be called in by NMSI before its November 2007 due date because of the late payments. The second loan calls for zero interest because the state of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
will take ten percent of any profits the film might make. Film producers said the delay of payment was due to filming taking longer than expected.
At one point the film was in development with both New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
and MGM.
Filming locations
Filming locations include: Albuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, in the United States; and Nogales, Sonora
Nogales, Sonora
Heroica Nogales , more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and its surrounding municipality on the northern border of the Mexican State of Sonora. The municipality covers an area of 1,675 km², and borders to the north the city of Nogales, Arizona, United States, across the U.S.-Mexico border...
, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and Mexicali, Baja California, in Mexico.
Distribution
The picture was first presented at the Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
on May 18, 2006 and again at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
on February 15, 2007 before being released to theatres. It was nominated for a Golden Bear.
Box office
The movie was released in theaters internationally only, starting in Germany on February 22, 2007. The film ended up grossing $8,327,171 worldwide. It was released straight-to-DVD in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on January 29, 2008.
Critical response
Kirk Honeycutt, writing for the Hollywood Reporter, did not like the film: "It wants to be a thriller, a piece of investigative journalism, a political soapbox and a vehicle for Jennifer Lopez. It serves none of these masters well." Honeycutt also said the screenplay is full of plot holes and outlines some of them in his review of the film.According to media reports, the audience reacted with a mixture of "boos and muted applause" when the film finished screening.
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine film critic, Leslie Felperin, had a problem with some of the arguments made in the film, namely: that the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) and the exploitation of Mexican labor directly led to the killing of many women in Ciudad Juárez. Felperin wrote, "Possible co-factors or causes of the real crime spree, such as rife drug-related criminality, domestic violence largely ignored by the authorities, and the possibility that at least some of the culprits may be U.S. citizens crossing the border to kill for kicks, are not explored here." As for the film, Felperin calls the movie "only fair-to-poor."
Awards
Wins- At the Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
Jennifer Lopez received the "Artists for Amnesty," award presented by Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
. She won the award for her role as producer and star of a film "examining the ongoing murders of hundreds of women in a Mexican border town."
Nominations
- Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin Bear; Gregory Nava; 2007.
External links
- Bordertown film review at "WBAI Radio"