Posted in : Film Festival , Movies , Review , SXSW| tag : documentary , sxsw
The " Lone Star " Award - get ahead doc from SXSW tells a beautiful , human story and expose the lifelike beauty of the Texas margin . In theaters and VOD May 3 .
The River and the Wallis a beautiful nature and travelog infotainment with a sharp political bound . Those thing do n’t normally go together , but that is exactly the point as directorBen Mastersattempts to show on the dot how incongruous the idea of a 2,000 nautical mile border bulwark is with the varied and gorgeous landscapes of the Texas borderland .
As he and his squad jaunt down the Rio Grande river on kayak , bike , knight , and understructure over two months , they fill the people who subsist and work on the edge . No matter what side of the debate you are on about proposed border walls , you will have your assumptions challenged . But mostly , you will marvel at the beautiful scenery and personal stories of people you meet along the way .
While this docudrama tells a very human tarradiddle as we make the long trek from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico , the real star here is the scene . One of the other great myths about the perimeter is that it ’s all desert and easy navigable . While that is straight for some country , what is most interesting is how varied the terrain is . Our squad
Of course , we have to start with the two major newsmakers in the movie : CongressmenWill Hurd(Republican ) andBeto O’Rourke(Democrat ) as they let the cat out of the bag about the realities of border security . They are the first of twelve of interpreter who show that , just put , wall are uneffective and disruptive to peoples ' life without work the problems they really want to resolve . This is one of two documentaries Beto appear in at this year ’s SXSW , and this one is only a fairly modest cameo . The real headliner here is the scenery .
If a painting is worth a thousand words , then the shots of the transparent cliff walls , jag slot canyons , and tense moments as our crew tries to traverse this terrain severalise you plenty . This landscape does n’t need a paries . No one is attempting to cross here .
Of course , there are multitude who cross the edge , and it ’s significant to understand why , and to understand the chronicle of the people . It ’s easy to think of the delimitation as this argument – as the Rio Grande . But to the people who live there , the edge , and especially the river mean so much more . For farmer , this is their source of water . And otherwise button-down west Texas ranchers and farmers over and over tell you how damaging it will be to make out their farm off from their master water source .
And because the border paries will not needfully follow the river , but in many places actually be range miles inland , these same Fannie Farmer stand to lose hundred of thousands of Acre of productive farmland behind a perimeter rampart .
But the story is n’t just as slice - and dried as that . Two of the work party who we gather are themselves undocumented or tike of undocumented immigrant . And so while we expect a lot of ruth for the great unwashed who need to cut through the borderline ( and we get it ) , there are some bumps in the ideological route . During an incredibly tense sequence , they encounter people crossing the river and the perimeter and wonder what they should do . They know they ’re in an area patronise by the Zetas cartel and their lives may be in danger . Yes , even despite all the rhetoric of how safe the perimeter community are and how most mass are just look for for a practiced life , when button comes to thrust . . . well , you should follow and see what happens .
But this is what makes this so much more of an interesting trip than just a uncoiled political screed . It has a definite point of view , but is willing to acquaint another side as well .
The filmmakers lament at several point in the journeying that they venerate the building of more border wall is a foregone conclusion and imminent . They fear they are capture this wild wild and untamed before a racist vanity project that wo n’t solve the problem it ’s intended to ( my words , not theirs ) cuts through it and the region lose their unparalleled beauty . Check it out before it ’s lost , or to remind yourself on the button what is at stake when people senselessly chant " Build the wall . "
See this movie . get it challenge your premiss . Go on the journey and take in the scene and the beautiful human story of a river , a margin , and communities who live there .
This is one of the best infotainment playing at SXSW this year and was recipient of the prestigious"Lone Star Award . “Lucky for you , you will also get to bask one of 2019 ’s beneficial documentaries with a countrywide theatrical and VOD unloose coming May 3rd .
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