Search - Crossing Over [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Thoughtful movie for our times

elena j | Chicago | 12/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This movie is an extremely thoughtful comment on the immigration issues facing this country today. With skillful directing, this movie takes us inside the lives of U.S. Immigration agents and several legal and illegal immigrants, telling each of their stories from a unique perspective. Harrison Ford takes a nice turn as a conflicted immigration agent torn between duty and morality, who sees each immigration story as unique and shows more heart than most of his fellow officers. What I find most interesting is that this almost semi-documentary script gives us an intimate look into the lives of those on all sides of the immigration debate, and shows us why we need to be a bit more tolerant in our attitudes on a case-by-case basis. The movie also paints a beautiful picture of the cultural diversity of those who come to this country, and how far some are willing to go in order to remain here. It also reminds us what American citizenship often means to those who weren't born here. It is a very thought-provoking movie."

What Happened to Sean Penn?

Jimzushi | Hollywood | 07/22/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I viewed Crossing Over in 2008 as part of a test audience. In an age of popcorn action films and dopey comedies, I found the film to be very moving, human and tragic. It is well acted and directed and kept me interested in the many intertwining personal stories of immigration. Those of us living in So Cal equate the immigration issue as being solely Hispanic. But in Crossing Over, we see a broad spectrum encompassing many different nationalities and ethnicities.
I just skimmed through the DVD and was puzzled to see the Sean Penn sequence missing. WTF? While I missed the sequence, I wouldn't say that it was especially integral to the story. Penn plays a Border Patrol agent driving his truck in the rain when he swerves to avoid hitting a woman who appears out of nowhere. His truck goes rolling down the hillside. He awakes the next morning with a raging headache and stumbles upon the dead woman's body. It turns out she has been dead for a while and the woman he saw the night before was actually her apparition - she had been deported earlier in the film and was apparently on her way back to her son in LA. The sequence is less than ten minutes and Penn did not appear elsewhere in the film.
The Penn scene was replaced by some anonymous Border Patrol agent finding the dead woman's body. Much less moving and thoughtful. I thought it added a nice spiritual dimension to the film. What a brat for asking to be removed from the film. Is Hollywood really that spoiled?"