Beyond Borders | | Cast : | Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, Linus Roache | | Director : | Martin Campbell | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | October 24, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | March 23, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 02, 2005 | | Summary | Beyond Belief | Content
 | Win some, lose some. When Clive Owen replaced Kevin Costner (due to "artistic differences"), this movie got a truly magnetic leading man. When Martin Campbell replaced Oliver Stone, however, it got a lesser director, although Stone later got to direct his leading lady, Angelina Jolie, in "Alexander" (which did not exactly conquer the world). Had another actress replaced Jolie, say the excellent Joan Allen or Julianne Moore, it might have found its footing. As it is, "Beyond Borders" is simply beyond belief.
It is not just that Jolie is unconvincing as a socialte who enlists in the fight for world famine relief. She's in way over her head. She doesn't display any of the fortitude that such an effort as world humanitarian aid demands, and which Owen intensely conveys whenever he's on screen. That Jolie ends up a martyr to his cause, leaving a loving husband (the always underrated Linus Roache) and two children in London, is a twist of fate that will make you cringe instead of care.
"Beyond Belief" is ambitious. There are some interesting situation ethics, character clashes, and stark scenes of corruption, violence and human suffering in Ethopia, Cambodia and Chechnya. You can see why Stone was attracted to the material. But the movie draws our attention away from these imperatives and onto an adultery, given the circumstances, of staggering unimportance. It squanders our good will, making us feel guilty about our impatience for the picture to end. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 01, 2005 | | Summary | VERY Good Film | Content
| I Finally saw "Beyond Borders". I was never reticent because of luke warm to tepid reviews, rather, just didn't get around to it. Happy to say that once again critics sometimes (read: often) just don't... get... it. I recall reading some rubbish about love and war don't mix, which was laughable, perhaps the critic forgot that war as a backdrop produced some of the very best narratives in existence (Papa Hemingway would more than likely share this opinion). At any rate, Miss Jolie gives a truly wonderful performance, she is quite still in this role, a feat not easily achieved. Her expressions, body language and eyes (those incredible eyes!) tell the viewer everything they need to know. I've seen pretty much everything Angie has done and along with "Gia" she can be so very proud of this picture. Clive Owen is (as usual) also guite good, he could have phoned this one in as it is a role tailored to his talents. Marty Campbell also shines with what I understand was a thready budget. And, of course, perhaps the real stars of the film are the locations and the brave, amazing people that are the focus of Beyond Borders. The film opens many a complacent eye - I encourage everyone to see it so that they may make a small (but so significant to those in need) change in somebody's life. I also congratulate the film on being brave and daring with their female lead; the places they take her both physically and mentally and the impactive ending make this a wonderful cinema and life experience. Bollocks to those who find it "confusing" or "uneven". Cheers. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 27, 2005 | | Summary | Jolie's three-dimensional portrait saves this turkey | Content
| Here is an incoherent romantic adventure in the vein of "The English Patient" saved by a three-dimensional acting job by Angelina Jolie. The actress portrays an English bride who first leaves her place in privileged society, then becomes a United Nations official, all in the name of saving starving people around the globe.
Her travels take her from 1984 England to Ethiopia, then to 1989 Cambodia and, finally, to Chechnya in 1995. Most of the time she is following overwrought M.D. Clive Owen, who runs around the globe smoking cigarettes, seeking funding, engaging in revolutionary activities, and trying to save poor people in the Third World.
This is the basis for the romance, which is essentially killed by an incoherent script, plot and poor acting by Owen. Jolie gives one of her better screen portrayals as, first, a young woman, then activist, then conflicted wife and mother and, later, U.N. official more overwhelmed by love and grief than Anna Karenina for Brodsky.
But there is no classic line or theme in this film, which lacks continuity between scenes and places on the globe. In addition, while Jolie's two children age between the 1984, 1989 and 1995 sequences, neither of the leads nor Jolie's husband puts on even a year. Jolie finishes the film just as she started it -- without an age line in her face. Odd indeed for a woman of her experience!
And while this is a romance between the two great looking leads, it takes a full one hour and 26 minutes before the two even embrace and kiss! That's an hour and a half of foreplay to satisfy romantics but emptiness for the rest of us.
The movie ends with a message that it is dedicated to relief workers and victims of war and persecution across the globe. It's hard to believe this was the genuine message of the film, which is really not much more than a romantic adventure. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | World as it really is | Content
| Starring Angelina Jolie( Tomb Raider ), and Clive Owen ( King Arthur ), it's a moving tale of just how cruel the world can be. Angelina stars a a bright but bored married Amercian who lives in London, and Clive Owen plays the man of the world as a doctor. They bring to the big screen the truth of just how cruel the world is to people with little to no education and extreme poverty. In a movie that streches a time span roughly of 10-15 years, it lets you feel just what it would be like to wonder when you would be getting another meal, what it would be like if you were to die from a simple and curable diease and what it would be like to have to do anything for the one you love. Now I ask, watch this movie and ask yourself if there's nothing that we can do, what have we become as human beings. Humanity, even in it's smallest part, can help change the course of one persons life. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 08, 2005 | | Summary | An Eye Opener | Content
| Beyond Borders is not meant to be a feel good movie. It is a tragedy meant to arouse pity and fear. It is one of the only humanitatian movies that actually dares to show the cruelty of humans and showcase problematic issues other countries face. Angelina Jolie particiapted in this movie because of the importance of using theatre to gain public interest in world events. It is the latent public that watches this movie and does nothing but criticize it. It is the aware public that takes this movie literally, by trying to make a difference like Jolie is doing working with UNHCR. I suggest this film only for people who can stomach an accurate view of the human cruety that still exists today. Side note: Most of the equipment the crew used to shoot the film, like tents and generators, were donated, and are still being used in Africa today. |
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