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Beyond Borders (2003)
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Reviews Counted:99
Fresh:14
Rotten:85
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: Beyond Borders is good-intentioned, but the use of human suffering as a backdrop for a romance comes across as sanctimonious and exploitative.
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $4,394,454
Synopsis: Director Martin Campbell (GOLDENEYE) balances a romantic tale, serious political commentary, and beautifully shot scenery from exotic locations in BEYOND BORDERS. Oscar winner Angelina Jolie gives... Director Martin Campbell (GOLDENEYE) balances a romantic tale, serious political commentary, and beautifully shot scenery from exotic locations in BEYOND BORDERS. Oscar winner Angelina Jolie gives a moving performance inspired by her real-life U.N. work, and has the perfect romantic foil in Clive Owen. Ostensibly a tale of romance triumphing against the odds, this is in fact a multifaceted story that deals with its various topics in a visually arresting style. BEYOND BORDERS follows the problematic blossoming romance between busy American socialite Sarah Jordan (Jolie), and rogue doctor Nick Callahan (Owen). The two initially meet in 1984 at a charity event in London. Sarah is still flushed with excitement from her recent marriage, but is nevertheless enchanted by Nick's impassioned speech on behalf of starving children in Ethiopia. Sarah decides to help the cause in Africa, meeting Nick there and sparking a romantic connection which is cut short because of family and work commitments. Four years later, Sarah finds herself alone after a torrid divorce. Her work for the United Nations now consumes her thoughts, and when the chance to travel to war-torn Cambodia--and reunite with Nick--arises, it proves too good to turn down. The two immediately hit it off, but Nick's commitment to his work once again causes them to separate. Five more years pass, and when Sarah receives a call that Nick has been captured and made a prisoner of war in Chechnya, she realizes she has one more chance to rescue her man, and to rekindle the passion. [More]
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, Teri Polo, Linus Roache
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, Teri Polo, Linus Roache, Noah Emmerich, Yorick Van Wageningen
Director: Martin Campbell
Director: Martin Campbell
Screenwriter: Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Producer: Dan Halsted, Lloyd Phillips
Composer: James Horner
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Beyond Borders
This movie doesn't know if it's a socially conscious flick about feeding starving kids or a steamy romantic drama about two pretty people who like to make out in tents.
Never have we been forced to watch so many suffer needlessly for the sake of so few. And that’s what makes this film reprehensible.
Ambitious and morally complex, yet ultimately shallow. As a result, it falls short of pleasing lovers of serious cinema, while also alienating the happily-ever-after crowd.
The picture holds up starving babies to score cheap emotional points, but it never bothers to look beyond the swollen bellies and swarming flies.
Beyond Borders is a film with its heart in the right place. Unfortunately, its head is stuck so far in the clouds that it dissolves into preachy do-gooder mush.
Skip Beyond Borders and write a check to the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders.
Beyond Borders devotes more time to one person's nobility (Angelina Jolie's) than to a world of suffering, and the result is offensive.
The formula that gave life to such poignant and powerful films as The Killing Fields and The Year of Living Dangerously this time results in something closer to parody.
Beyond Borders trivializes the pain and suffering of actual people by reducing them to a backdrop for Hollywood twaddle.
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