Crossing Over is a 2009 American independent drama film about illegal immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles. The film deals with the border, document fraud, the asylum and green card process, work-site enforcement, naturalization, the office of counter terrorism and the clash of cultures. Crossing Over was written and directed by Wayne Kramer, himself an immigrant from South Africa, and is a remake of his 1995 short film of the same name. Kramer produced the film alongside Frank Marshall.[1]
The movie was filmed on location in Los Angeles in 2007.
Plot
After immigrant Mireya Sanchez is deported, officer Max Brogan takes care of her little son, and brings him to the boy's grandparents in Mexico. Later the woman is found dead near the border. Brogan returns to the grandparents to tell the bad news.
Cole Frankel, a corrupt immigration officer, makes a deal with Australian immigrant Claire Shepard: he can have unlimited sex with her for two months, then she gets a green card. In the course of the two months he separates from his wife and wants to make the relationship with Shepard one of love, but she declines. He exempts her from completing the two months and arranges the green card. However, authorities find out and arrest him and Shepard is deported. His wife Denise Frankel adopts a little girl from Nigeria, who has already been in the detention center several years.
Brogan has an Iranian colleague, Hamid Baraheri. Hamid's family disapproves of his sister having sex with a married man. Encouraged by his father his brother plans to beat them up, but he ends up killing them, and is arrested.
South Korean teenager Yong Kim, who is about to be naturalized, reluctantly participates in a robbery with four others. Hamid kills the four but lets him go. He lies to the authorities that there were only four robbers.
Gavin Kossef, a young British immigrant, pretends to be a religious Jew, to get a job at a Jewish school, which allows him to stay in the U.S. In a test where he has to demonstrate his familiarity with the Jewish religion he does not perform properly, but a rabbi asked to assess it approves it, so that the immigrant passes the test. After the test, in private, the rabbi requires from the immigrant to take lessons from him to eliminate the deficiencies in his knowledge.
Taslima Jahangir, a 15-year-old girl from Bangladesh, presents a paper at school promoting that people should try to understand the 9/11 hijackers. The school principal reports this to authorities. She is not charged for this, but it turns out that her parents and she are illegally in the U.S. One parent of choice can stay with the girl's two younger siblings, who are U.S. citizens because they were born in the U.S., the girl has to leave with the other parent to Bangladesh, even though she has lived there only until she was three. She leaves with her mother, and cannot even say goodbye to her father.
Cast
- Harrison Ford as ICE Special Agent Max Brogan
- Ray Liotta as Cole Frankel
- Ashley Judd as Denise Frankel
- Jim Sturgess as Gavin Kossef
- Cliff Curtis as ICE Special Agent Hamid Baraheri
- Alice Braga as Mireya Sánchez
- Alice Eve as Claire Shepard
- Summer Bishil as Taslima Jahangir
- Jacqueline Obradors as FBI Special Agent Marina Phadkar
- Justin Chon as Yong Kim
- Melody Khazae as Zahra Baraheri
- Merik Tadros as Farid Baraheri
- Marshall Manesh as Sanjar Baraheri
- Nina Nayebi as Minoo Baraheri
- Naila Azad as Rokeya Jahangir
- Shelley Malil as Munshi Jahangir
- Jamen Nanthakumar as Abul Jahangir
- Jaysha Patel as Jahanara Jahangir
- Leonardo Nam as Kwan
- Tim Chiou as Steve
- West Liang as Mark
- Johnny Young as Justin
- Lizzy Caplan as Marla
- Ogechi Egonu as Alike
- Aramis Knight as Juan Sanchez
- Chil Kong as Chen Kim
- Mahershal Al Hashbaz Ali as Detective Strickland
- Bailey Chase as Border Patrol Officer
- Sarah Shahi as Pooneh Baraheri
- Sung Hi Lee as Min Kim
- Andy Kang as Seung Kim
- Roger Marks as Rabbi Yeffie
- Terence Bernie Hines as Immigration Adjudicator
- Josh Gad as Howie
- Maree Cheatham as Judge Freeman
- Esther Paik as Liquor Store owner's wife
- Greg Joung Paik as Liquor Store owner
- Reynaldo Valentin as Javier Pedraza
- Michael Cudlitz as San Pedro ICE Processing Agent
- Juan Garcia as ICE Special Agent Howell
- Christopher Murray as ICE Special Agent Ludwig
- Julia Vera as Juan's Grandmother
- Joaquin Garrido as Juan's Grandfather
- Deborah Puette as Mrs Benedict
- Jack Conley as OIG Special Agent Poulson
- John Lafayette as OIG Special Agent Womack
Production
The film originally featured a scene in which an Iranian character is murdered by her brother in an honor killing, but the National Iranian American Council opposed the plotline as being unrealistic and offensive, and the killing was presented as a beating-up which got out of hand, removing the dialogue referring to "honor" and "family honor".[2][3]
Additionally, Sean Penn filmed scenes as an immigration cop. However, his scenes were cut due to the controversy over the honor killing plot.[4][5]
Distribution
The film was distributed in the United States by MGM and The Weinstein Company. It was given a limited theatrical release on February 27, 2009.
References
External links
