A former Arizona sheriff's wife (Amy Madigan , Ed Harris's real wife) is mudered while riding on their ranch property. It would appear a Mexican man (Michael Peña) illegally crossing into the US is at fault and he's framed and relentlessly pursued as a killer . As the former and the current sheriff (Ed Harris) search for answers, but things go wrong . As he decides to take a stand for his deceased wife and against the corruption he's found out into the police station ; eventually , he'll stop at nothing , at whatever cost. The hard investigation of the complex case will change their lives forever . As the ex-patrolman moodily scratching his conscience pitying the poor immigrants and wetbacks and going up against undercover operations .
An interesting film exposing tragedy and corruption along America's chain-link souther frontier . The border is not only a fence between two countries , it's a moral line between decency and indecency, between moral compromise and being our starring a truly humane and compassionate person , regardless of the consequences . Not an award-winner, but an effective and interesting character study . All of the actors here deliver nice but rather under-rated performances . Ed Harris plays a on-the-take ex-border patrol cop or sheriff trying to go straight, but surrounded by corruption on both sides of the fence . Ed Harris finally has to choose between fitting in by being a good man and being true to himself and cutting his ties with his other colleagues . With Ed Harris , there's no theatricality, no eccentricity, just a good, straightforward, impassioned portraya l. Portraying the desperation of a man trying to make a difference , and do the right thing . And being well accompanied by Michael Peña as the unfortunate Miguel , Eva Longoria who is lovely and extremely engaging in spite of her distresses , and one might wish that she'd had more opportunities in American film over the years, as well as Amy Madigan and Aden Young. Michael Berry made his professional feature film debut with this border drama Frontera which he directed and co-wrote. He often uses Mexican/Hispanic based characters and themes in his films . Following Frontera, Berry wrote the screenplay and directed the original musical feature film Stuck, which is based on the stage play of the same name. And Berry also directed the stage production of Stuck in New York. Berry has an extensive background as a New York based stage actor and has appeared in Broadway productions, including Next To Normal and Les Miserables .
This ¨Frontera¨ 2014 belongs to a subgenre usually set in the Tex-Mex border concerning illegal immigration , such as : ¨Border Incident¨ 1949 by Anthony Mann with Ricardo Montalban , George Murphy , Howard Da Silva . ¨Borderline¨ 1980 by Jerrold Freeman with Charles Bronson , Bruno Kirby , Michael Lerner , Wilford Brimley and Ed Harris . ¨The Border¨ 1982 by Tony Richardson with Jack Nicholson , Valerie Perrine , Warren Oates , Harvey Keitel. ¨Crossing over¨ 2009 by Wayne Kramer with Harrison Ford , Ray Liotta , Jim Sturgess , Alice Eva , Alice Braga , Ashley Judd . ¨Desert¨ 2015 by Jonás Cuarón with Jeffrey Dean Morgan , Gael Garcia Bernal, among others.
