Release Date: October 24, 2003

Rated R for language and war-related violence

Directed by: Martin Campbell

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, Noah Emmerich, Teri Polo, Linus Roache

Plot:
Angelina Jolie stars as Sarah Jordan, a sheltered American socialite living in London. When she meets Nick Callahan (Clive Owen) a renegade doctor, his commitment to humanitarian efforts in war-torn nations moves her deeply. Driven by her passion for Nick and his life’s work, Sarah risks everything to embark on a perilous journey that leads to the volatile far corners of the earth.

Review:
The United States is the richest country in the world and do we share our money? Yes we do, but is there enough for all those countries dying of hunger and in need of security. No, of course not. Thousands of people die each day. This is a film that makes you think of how precious a life can be and how much people will go through to live another day.

This film explodes with a pretty intense scene of Nick which is played by Clive Owen coming in a dining restaurant and bringing in a young black African child that is dying of hunger. There are a few scenes in which hungry children are shown and it is truly hard to watch. You can see their ribs and their arms are about a inch in circumference, it is really hard to watch and sad.

Clive Owen plays Nick, a man that delivers food and security to many countries in Africa. He feels like no one cares about these children and these adults that are in danger of dying.

Flies for godsakes are always around these people. You need three things to survive, life, food, water and shelter. They can't even take a decent shower. Too many problems and so little time and money. However, one person can always make a difference and that's what Nick does in this film.

This film combined two things at once. It is a film about the life in Africa and also about the love between two people. There will probably be some that will dislike the idea of having those two stories. I don't know why that is to be disliked and I still thoroughly enjoyed the film.

The truth is this film isn't for everyone and you will either dislike it or love it immensely, like I did. There is plenty of love to be shared in Beyond Borders and it has many great qualities.

Clive Owen and Angelina Jolie begin to be interested in each other and end up having sex in this film. She has a husband at the time, so it is definitely an affair. Her husband also had his share of an affair as well, so it came out to be equal affairs.

The film must be pretty hard on Angelina Jolie. She actually has an adopted African child, so that might have been what inspired her to do this film. The role was hers in this film and along with Clive Owen, they made a great pair.

Don't leave now. You know what time it is.

Angelina Jolie's performance is good, but Clive steals the show on this one. He went from angry to emotional and back and forth and he did it so well. The rumored James Bond after Pierce Brosnan actually sheds tears, showing his compassion for these people in Africa. Acting wise, both of them gave some interesting performances.

After the mildly entertaining Vertical Limit, Martin Campbell delivered a great film. His other films which are good include Goldeneye, one of the best bond films and the pretty good Mask Of Zorro. He isn't a bad director at all and it shows in this film.

I enjoyed the way this film combined two tragedies toward the end. One with the blacks dying in Africa and the other with Owen and Jolie trying to start a relationship, but it is tough with their jobs and continuous traveling. It showed that Owen not only does this as a job, but he actually cares. Unlike many other humans, they just do their job for money and go home to a hot dinner. This isn't the case, but these are actual living things.

The war in this film was also brutal. The film had its share of violence. There are quite a few disturbing scenes involving the children and there are a few graphic scenes of violence. They were truly disturbing, but realistic.

Everyone needs to know there are two lives for humans, their working part of their lives and their love life. That's what this film shows. No matter what we do, many situations are going to interfere with our day plans.

When the film comes to its final scenes, it begins to hit you emotionally more and more. The ending is just magnificent and I'm glad Martin Campbell didn't go with the traditional love story way. It was surprising indeed. Many things happened in this film that I didn't expect and many facts that were true, but sad.

Beyond Borders is a very good film. Don't let this one get pass you. You'll definitely have one hell of an experience. These are one of those surprise films of the year.

Beyond Borders

Rating: