Green Border is a vivid and memorable picture by the experienced director Agnieszka Holland, the author of the harrowing drama. It looks at the tensions of the European refugee crisis, concentrating on an unexplored region – the Belarusian-Polish border. In its plot, stakings, play performances, and themes, Green Border delivers an important look at the human struggle due to the political conflict.
It goes without saying that the necessary focus the refugee crisis receives in the show is quite harrowing in its execution.
Green Border has brought into focus of migration where the primary aspect is the refugee crisis at the Belarusian-Polish border. The picture shows their daily life as refugee giving audience the feeling of hopelessness and despair among refugees. The concept of ‘limited options’ at the border is particularly effective; the cinematography is expressive and the general feel of both the film is effectively gloomy – the border is portrayed as a place of hope but also of suffering due to the environment and the people who are stuck in the middle of it.
Strong Performances and Characterization
The characters as well as casting are good in portraying clear and strong roles and the actors have done a perfect job in representation. Every single person there, starting from the refugees themselves and ending with the border guards and the male and female aid workers, is depicted with no cheat, no simplification or caricature. This means that stepping into the plot, the audience gets a complex view on a crisis when there are no simple solutions or outright evildoers. The actors get out there and give very emotional performances which will have the viewers easily relating to the characters’ plight.
Agnieszka Holland’s Masterful Direction
As it has been quite often seen that controversy is there in the plot of many of Agnieszka Holland’s films, she does not shies away and actually proves her knack in dealing delicate issues in her directorial venture in Green Border. One is able to tell she has worked mainly as a filmmaker because, unlike many other actors, her process is characterized by quite a lot of care and the ability to effectively set a building tension in the film. Holland chooses not to sugar-coat the violence of the situation, or play it down, but into it, she weaves hope and the kindness of people.
Engaging Cinematography and Atmosphere
As for the visuals of Green Border, they remain the key to the viewers’ understanding of the film’s setting, which is as gloomy and intriguing as it can be. That is why the characters’ clothes are muted and the lighting is rather ascetic, symbolizing the borderlands’ climate and the protagonists’ inner states; besides, the director pays sufficient attention to the characters’ close-up, doing this to focus on their facial expressions. As for the dramatic aspect, the film is saturated with tension, which corresponds to the shooters’ everyday life – the entire life of refugees with guns.
Some aspects of thematic depth and social commentary are as follows:
Green Border is not just a story about refugees; it’s a story about the state of the world today, about nationalism, xenophobia and what it means to be human. It is an interesting exercise in why and if states and individuals should intervene in others’ plight. As such, Holland forces the audience to directly face societal realities that are generally best avoided, as well as the borders that have been drawn to encapsulate a group of people.
When it comes to the emotional appeal of the message and the measure of moral ambiguity in the film the tenor of the conversation shifts and cannot be ignored.
Perhaps the most obvious feature of Green Border is the affective quality of the piece. It’s very much open-ended with no clear-cut endings to the different relationships and no clear-cut messages to the audience. It is a sobering and sometimes a sad story of the plight of refugees where every move is a choice that has its own cost. For that reason, the audience is left with the unresolved tensions that make them think about their attitudes towards the problems of the world.
Conclusion
From the point of view of the actuality and relevance of the problem it reveals, Green Border is a significant and compelling documentary.” The movie directed by Agnieszka Holland and with excellent actings and succesful approach to cinematography, is a movie that is provoking and, what is more important, needed. This surprising turn sends one’s mind back to the basics of the human losses due to political turmoil and conflicts and the need to become more sensitive to the world that is fast becoming a divided place. As a whole, to everyone who heard about the social problem films which are infused with love and brains, Green Border is a film to watch.
