| Bordertown | 
 enlarge | Director: Gregory Nava
Actors: Jennifer Lopez, Antonio Banderas, Kate Del Castillo, John Norman (ix), Juan Diego Botto
Studio: VELOCITY / THINKFILM
Category: DVD
List Price: $27.98
Buy Used: $5.88
You Save: $22.10 (79%)
New (46) Used (28) Collectible (1) from $5.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 6534
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 114
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: TF-55585
UPC: 821575555852
EAN: 0821575555852
ASIN: B000VUFJ0K
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: January 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: From personal collection-dvd is covered with scratches-priced low to reflect condition-please do not buy if scratches would bother you, artwork and case in like new condition-free upgrade to first class shipping
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Product Description
A powerful story of life on the border between the United States and Mexico Bordertown is based on the hundreds of women working in American-owned factories who have been brutally raped and murdered in Juarez a city gripped by fear. The attacks have been covered up by the local authorities and still continue today.When editor of the Chicago Sentinel George Morgan (Sheen) sends ambitious reporter Lauren Adrian (Lopez) to Juarez Mexico to investigate the murders what she finds is the story of a lifetime. Eva a young woman who was raped and left for dead in the desert is the only woman to survive an attack. Unable to go to the police for help she turns to a local newspaper run by Diaz Alfonso (Banderas) former friend and colleague of Lauren s. Hiding Eva is incredibly dangerous but Lauren knows that publishing her story is the only way to expose the truth behind the murders. She is determined to find Eva s attackers but soon finds herself immersed in a dangerous web of corruption that extends to both sides of the border.System Requirements:Running Time: 114 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 821575555852 Manufacturer No: TF-55585
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 One of the best !!!! June 29, 2008
A very disturbing movie that we all should take our time to watch.
Outstanding acting and a story that we all should stop in front off and appreciate how luck we are that we leave in countries there we can take the "bad guys" to justices. There is so many countries where women are not protected in the society and this movie only shows as one country.
Very strong movie that should touch us all at heart, man and woman.
Boarder Town June 13, 2008
Bordertown where "Enough" meets "Traffic". This movie is a must, must , must see !!!!It gives a very informative,accurate and dramatic presentation of the exploitation of women currently going on along the US/Mexican Border. Bordertowns, like Tijuana and Juarez are set up by the complicity of Multinational Conglomerates, Corporations and the US and Mexican Governments,and legalized and endorsed by NAFTA,the Free trade agreement. The conditions have been created and sanctioned for legal exploitation of women. The economic policies created by NAFTA, are created for corporate profits, motivated by greed and have no provision for workers rights. Poverty and taxes move these women to these "bordertowns", away from their homes and family where they are forced to live in "ghettos" set up by by the various conglomerates. As strangers to their environment they are isolated and invisible, forced into submissive labor and to conditions which make them invisible to society, governments and the world. The US and Mexican Governments have chosen profits over womens right and have once again created conditions for exploitative labor that was criminalized in the US in 1908.Women are "chosen" over men for these indentured position since they are less likely to be "seen" , complain and unrecognized as human beings. Bordertowns have created the condition for these women to literally disappear into these ghettos and factories and find themselves vulnerable for any and all forms of exploitation; including sex trade, murders, forced pornography ,organized crime. Anyone looking to exploit,rape, harm and kill women. Ms Jennifer Lopez deserves recognition for a great and intense performance. The film chronicles the work of a reporter( Ms. Lopez) sent by a Chicago newspaper to investigate the systematic disappearance of the Women in Juarez. AS this reporter starts to uncover the truth, she realizes the magnitude of the complicity of Corporations, Conglomerates and Governments for profit. This then becomes her own personal journey to find her true self and her life's purpose. . As she tries to expose the truth she realizes that she has become a target since she becomes a threat both Governments and Corporate interest and puts her own life in jeopardy.
Unbelievable May 9, 2008
The movie was great but Jennifer Lopez character was hard to swallow.
Her acting wasn't good in this movie. I was surprised at Antonio Banderas' character. I didn't know that was him at first. Good movie!
 So so May 6, 2008
I worked in El Paso as a TV news photographer, so I'm somewhat familiar with those events in Juarez. I think this is definitely an important topic to make a movie about, but, as some of the other negative reviewers have stated, much of the dialog and acting is too over the top. All the heated arguments between Lopez' character and her boss back in Chicago, and then the tense personal arguments between her and Antonio Banderas about whatever problems had happened between them in the past, was totally unnecessary to the story, and only served as distractions from the main subject matter, the mass murder of women in Juarez -which in and of itself is dramatic enough, so why add all the silly dialog about "if you do this I'll give you the foreign correspondents job..." bla bla bla...
Another thing that annoyed me was the way in which they tried to blend into the story certain elements from real life, but those real life things are all chronologically mixed up. For example: She's talking to her boss about the Egyptian suspect the authorities had arrested, and later, they hear the Juanes song "La Camisa Negra" on the radio. That got me a little confused as to when this story was supposed to be taking place. The Egyptian guy was arrested in 1995. "La Camisa Negra" was released in 2005.
Also, When I worked in El Paso, I covered a press conference at the Cereso prison where the Egyptian guy spoke to the press -so extensively, in fact, that some of the TV reporters got annoyed, asking him, "How much of this do you really expect us to be able to fit into a 2-minute news story?" So, the scene where the police detective angrily refuses to allow the press to interview the Egyptian, is somewhat inaccurate.
Lastly, when Lopez and Banderas arrive at the scene of one of the murders, the way Juarez police confiscated her camera and didn't allow them to take pictures, is the opposite of how I recall their relationship with the media. Our CBS affiliate had a Juarez stringer who was always bringing back extremely gruesome closeup video of the cadavers. Police over there would actually give the media much more freedom to photograph crime scenes, to the extent that journalists were allowed to cross the yellow police lines and walk everywhere the detectives went. Not to say that was good, but I remember that's how it was.
Disposable women, disposable society April 18, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Loosely based on several of the many Ciudad Juarez murders, BORDERTOWN is two parts docudrama/political commentary and two parts suspense/thriller. Though the subject of the film is an important one, the movie does suffer from a few major flaws.
Most likely, you've heard little or nothing about the 15-year serial killing spree(s) in the neighboring Mexican cities of Juarez and Chihuahua. Probably you've read a short article, maybe buried in the back of the "international" section of your local paper, about the latest death toll. Maybe you've seen a few pieces over the years, each giving rise to an eerie sense of deja vu: "Haven't I read this before? Didn't the police already catch this killer? Surely this is a different case..."
Between 1993 and the present day, at least 400 women, primarily employed in the maquiladoras established along the Mexican/American border, have been found dead. Raped, murdered, strangled, mutilated. Dumped like trash. Another 5,000+ women are reported missing. Most likely they are dead, but their families will never know, can never rest, because there is no outcry, no investigation, no justice. Government corruption, police incompetence, and international indifference have all conspired against justice. After all, these are poor brown women we are talking about. Disposable women in a disposable society.
BORDERTOWN attempts to tell the tales of all these women through the story of one girl, Eva Jimenez, a 16-year-old factory worker who is kidnapped on her way home from work, raped, and buried alive. Left for dead. Though her assailants - two men, gang rapists - thought they killed her, she survives and, with the help of two reporters (played by Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Baderes), tries to bring them to justice.
While I generally enjoyed the movie (as much as you can "enjoy" a movie about femicide), it does tend towards the melodramatic at times. The acting is generally adequate, though Maya Zapata is a standout as Eva. (So much so that I immediately hopped onto Netflix and put all her films in my queue.) Most of the melodrama is due to the script, rather than overacting. There are also a few plot holes, which I won't get into for fear of spoiling the ending. However, one is so large that you'll know it when you see it. (Just in case you don't, a hint: it involves the trial and the immediacy of Eva's testimony.)
Even so, BORDERTOWN is monumental film, in that it addresses an ongoing situation of gross human rights abuses that the mainstream media has largely ignored. Any time you can get A-list stars to sign on to such a project, it's a big f'in deal. And while the film itself isn't as rigorous in detailing the Ciudad Juarez gender-cide as I would prefer - the subplot about Lopez's childhood and her character's relationship with Banderes was distracting at best - it's still a good vehicle for getting the message out, for letting people know what is and isn't happening south of the border. The DVD extras, which include two documentaries ("Exposing the Juarez Murders: The Making of Bordertown" and "La Frontera - The Border"), as well as a "get involved" menu (the first time I've ever seen that on a DVD!) are particularly poignant and compelling. So while it certainly isn't a great movie - maybe a B-/C+ at best - it is still a movie that you, along with your friends and family (and Lou Dobbs, if you can compel him!), should see.
And, after the movie's over, don't forget about these women like the rest of the world. Use the resources provided to learn more, to take action, to get involved. As Eva Canseco explains in "La Frontera - The Border", we're all citizens of the same community; we need to protect one another, to care what happens to our neighbors, to act while we still have the agency to do so. The women raped and murdered, the men tortured into confessing - they could easily be you or I. Human rights abuses are not limited to "developing" or "third world" nations. Read the paper more closely (better yet, a feminist blog or two) and you'll be surprised to see what's happening in your own backyard.
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