FROZEN RIVER DEPICTS ILLEGAL ALIENS ENTERING FROM CANADA VIA MOHAWK COUNTRY
The independent film Frozen River, directed by Courtney Hunt, is a well-edited drama that moves quickly from one situation to another with profound implications regarding how illegals enter the United States. The principal focus is on Ray Eddy (played by Melissa Leo), mother of two, who lives in a run-down trailer unable to keep up bills for two reasons. Her employer arbitrarily limits her to part-time employment despite an admirable work record, and her husband is a gambler who has just left for Atlantic City one week before Christmas, leaving keys in his car at the bus station. While looking for him, Ray arrives at the bus station just in time to stop Lila (played by Misty Upham), who is driving off in what she thought was an abandoned car. Although the women are very different—a white woman who fits the profile of white trash and a Mohawk woman—they both live in run-down trailers and have little money to feed themselves. Lila has given her one-year-old to a friend so that the infant will have some food and security. The car in question has a large trunk with room for two persons, so Lila proposes that the two do some smuggling of illegals for some easy money. Ray accepts, and the film shifts into exposé mode, demonstrating that payment is forthcoming at both ends of the smuggling route, which involves driving back and forth on the frozen St. Lawrence River, mostly through the territory of the Mohawk Nation, which includes areas on both side of the border. When the vehicle enters the United States, a trooper does not stop the car because Ray is white. One night, however, the trooper stops the car because a tail light is out, and he later warns Ray that a notorious Mohawk smuggler is sitting alongside, though he does not require the trunk to be opened. Filmviewers learn a little about the internal politics of the Mohawk Nation and how American authorities keep out of Mohawk territory as the film comes to an inevitable conclusion involving law enforcement. MH
WAR DANCE IS A DRAMATIC DOCUMENTARY SET IN UGANDA
Currently, the Lord’s Resistance Army of Northern Uganda commands such strength that government forces follow a containment policy, although a map would have been a very helpful feature. One of the protected areas is the War Zone Displacement Camp for thousands of members of the Acholi tribe, mostly orphans who parents have been killed and 30,000 male siblings have been abducted to the rebel army over the past 20 years under penalty of death, leaving 200,000 orphans. Although War Dance could have been filmed as a documentary, directors Sean and Andrea Nix Fine instead focus on three children—Dominic, Nancy, and Rose—who are active in music classes in the compound’s Patongo Primary School. In addition to providing some background on the tragic fates of the three children, most of the focus is on their musical skills, as the school has decided to under the national music competition, which annually is held in Kampala, the capital. In preparation, two expert musicians arrive midway in the film to assist the students in polishing their skills to compete amid 5,000 children. The premise is that music brings the best out of children who otherwise might repose in the horror of their past. The suspense in the film, thus, is whether they might win any of the nine competition categories, including Grand Prize. Indeed, one might wonder why musical competition is not part of the Olympic Games, wherein African countries would shine. Without giving away the happy ending, the film is tasteful throughout, mostly in English, and very entertaining indeed. Titles providing the later disposition of the three children add a nice touch at the end. MH