Perhaps the most hot-button issue in today’s political climate is border control. Whole political parties are at each other’s throats over this problem with one side being treated like they do nothing to fight the problem and the other side treated like a fascist regime overly obsessed with finding every individual who ever crossed the border illegally, even at the expense of all those who legally did. It’s a tough problem that seemingly has no answer other than to turn the United States into a police state with walls and armed guards shooting at anyone who even approaches the border. That is, of course, a bit of an exaggeration but there are those out there who feel we need to do just that, running on platforms that include the phrase “Secure our borders”, rounding up immigrants and throwing them in detention centers. Border control and illegal immigration have been problems that go back long before our current presidency, though. With the use of migrant workers that cross the border on work visas to pick crops in California there have always been shady characters looking to turn a profit by transporting other workers across that border for a percentage of the wages. There have also been plenty of farmers and farming operations that look the other way in order to profit by paying slave wages under the table to these individuals.
This forms the basis for the 1949 film Border Incident. In this film a joint task force between Mexico and the United States is formed to snuff out the illegal crossings from both sides. Mexican agent Pablo Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalbán) goes undercover as a migrant worker to find out who on the Mexican side is arranging to bring workers over and to whom; Jack Bearnes (George Murphy), an American Border Patrol Agent, will go undercover to infiltrate the American side of the deal. In both cases, they are looking not only into the illegal crossings but also the bandits that have been killing the migrants and stealing their wages as they make their way back over the border.
This is a great setup for a film that is going to have a lot of highs and lows before it reaches the inevitable climax. It has quite a few lulls in the story as we are being introduced to a lot of characters on both sides who make all this illegal activity happen. It also spends a bit too much time setting up all the hows involved. But when the movie gets to the final act it kicks into high gear and doesn’t really let up. Perhaps most shocking in this final third is what happens when Jack’s cover is finally blown. Most films would have had some sort of last-minute rescue but Border Incident has the guts to not go that route. That sequence is absolutely harrowing to watch and really hits home just what the stakes are here.
This is a film that tackles a lot of social issues of the time that are still relevant today. You can’t watch the news or log into social media without being bombarded with stories about illegal border crossings and border security. Our politicians have done a good job at building hatred and xenophobia for our neighbors of the south and immigrants in general, legal or otherwise. This film humanizes them and gives us a peek into why so many people cross the border for work, even when the wages are so poor. It also highlights that this is more than just a handful of people sneaking through the desert into Southern California. This is organized and there are a lot of people making money off this kind of import. The film has a lot of problems, but the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses making this a surprisingly thought-provoking picture we can still relate to today. 1949 - 94 minutes
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