Film Screening: Crossing Over

cork | arts and media | event notice Tuesday May 04, 2010 13:45 by Eric - WSM solidaritybooks at gmail dot com

The struggle to achieve resident alien status, or gain full-blown citizenship in the United States, provides some thoughtprovoking material in this feature from director Wayne Kramer(THE COOLER). Crossing Over is an ensemble piece that contains many overlapping storylines, most of which revolve around Max Brogan (Harrison Ford), a law enforcement official who specializes in arresting people who break stringent immigration laws.

Joining Ford is Ray Liotta, who plays a corrupt immigration official who forces a wannabe Australian actress (Alice Eve) to sleep with him in exchange for a green card. The film also focuses on the rigorous guidelines laid down in post-9/11 America, with Kramer detailing the shocking maltreatment of a teenage girl who faces deportation after giving a misguided high school presentation on terrorism.
ese tales, and several others, all combine to present an intricate overview of the desperate and often overwhelmingly sad lengths people will go to so they can remain in the United States.

Kramer’s film closely mirrors other harrowing ensemble pieces such as Paul Haggis’s Crash (2004) and Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation (2006). Crossing Over carefully presents many different sides of this complicated issue and also examines how coincidence and good fortune can play a part in achieving resident status.

Film Screening: Crossing Over. Saturday, 8th May, 8pm in Solidarity Books.