The Infinite Border (La Frontera Infinita)

Despite what could be an interesting topic - immigration between the Mexican and American borders - La Frontera Infinita has little sense of place, time or purpose. Juan Manuel Sepulveda does not offer much to viewers unfamiliar with the situation. His eloquent yet sparse narration poses questions rather than providing explanations or insight, while his slow panoramas of people-covered trains stretching into the distance reflect the pace of both the film and the migrants’ movement. It is contradictory that this is a film about people’s journeys yet no one is given a name, so they become merely individual representations of one mass desire to leave their homeland, for reasons unknown. Consequently, it is hard to empathise or understand the journey of these people. In fact, the film’s most revealing moment is the director’s reply to a woman who asks “why are you so interested in immigrants?” His response is silence.