A very slim, sometimes exposition-heavy and repetitive drama about a destitute farmer trying to get his massive flock of sheep across the border during a particularly rough political/militaristic mishegas - repetitive in that very often characters, at least for the first half, will say "what are you going to do, you can't do that, X will happen, you're crazy!" and so on - but it has several arresting and captivating images, including a magnetic set piece of four of these would-be sheep smugglers turned criminals who surround a man who committed some grievous offense with editing and camera angles out of a Spaghetti Western shoot-out (it's quite outstanding with compositions that are viciously artistic). And by the time these characters, who could have been helping to put together a school, are herding the sheep through landmine-laden fields and shooting up any bastards who get in their way, it suddenly makes sense why this is included in a box set of films cherry picked by Scorsese. I don't mean because of the violence, that's the lazy/easy answer.
The Law of the Border is about an oppressed people caught in impossible circumstances, and the violence that springs out from these figures is tragic. MS has always been a strong proponent of drama that veers or just is Neo-Realism, and this has that while also being a story of ruthlessness and despairing action (albeit well choreographed). Nothing is meant to be glorious in these intense depictions, it's stark and documentary-like, with the Turkish locations serving the desolate nature of the people and the story. I honestly wasn't sure about this one early on, but once the stakes become greater and more terrible, and the director embraces dialog-free character moments and action, it becomes pretty engrossing. Adding to that, Turman Guillney has a solid presence on screen and makes for an unlikely action hero.
