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The Gatekeeper (2003)
Released By: Universal Studios Home Video   Rating: R   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Universal Studios Home Video
Genre: Horror
MPAA Rating: R
Director: John Carlos Frey
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: 10/12/2004
Cast: Joel Brooks, John Carlos Frey, Michelle Agnew, Anne Betancourt, Joe Pascual
Published ID: 777063
UPC: 025192616228,
Plot: Adam Fields (John Carlos Frey, who also wrote, directed, and produced the film) is a law enforcement agent patrolling the Mexican border outside San Diego. He's harboring two dangerous secrets. His bosses don't know that he belongs to a racist, right wing vigilante group called National Patrol, that harasses and assaults illegals as they try to cross the border. His confederates in the National Patrol don't know that his own mother is Mexican. Adam, who easily passes for Caucasian, doesn't tell anyone about his mother, a former prostitute. Frustrated with the border patrol's efforts to curtail border crossings, Adam and the shock jock leader of National Patrol, Jack Green (J. Patrick McCormack), come up with a scheme to embarrass the border patrol into taking their concerns more seriously. Adam will go undercover as a Mexican and cross the border into the states to show how easy it is, while capturing everything on a hidden video camera. Adam pays to be brought over, but once in the U.S., the scheme goes horribly awry, and Adam winds up stuck with a hapless group of illegals, forced to work for ruthless criminals at a crystal meth lab. Unable to escape, he gets a firsthand look at the hardships the illegal immigrants endure. Frey tried to sell his script for The Gatekeeper to a Hollywood studio, but, unwilling to compromise his vision, eventually decided to finance the film himself. The Gatekeeper was shown at {~the 2002 Urbanworld Film Festival} and at {~the 2002 Santa Barbara International Film Festival}, where it won the Phoenix Award. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Manipulative and Clueless
Added 12/2/2006

If anything this movie showed exactly WHY the U.S. needs to enforce it's already liberal immigration policies. What are meant to propagandistically emotionally manipulative scenes show specifically how neglect of our borders and laws merely benefits and profits the most expolitive coyotes and employers. And of course this film shows no awareness or irony regarding the reality that Mexico has the most stringent immigration laws in the world. Whenever the U.S. meekly struggles to enforce some measures, such are merely shadows of the Mexican reality. For example, in Mexico, being an illegal immigrant is a felony-helping someone immigrate illegally is also a crime. The Mexican government also ruitinely deports more illegal immigrants than the U.S. could ever dream of. I could go on.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Can a moonlighting border agent make it back to USA?
Added 2/3/2005

This U.S. Border Patrol agent, Adam Fields (John Carlos Frey) is angry with his job for keeping him behind. He is angry with his wife and doesn't want intimacy with her everytime she wants it and his past bothers him too. He has no father because his mother, now gravely sick, doesn't know which "john" out of many it could have been. He refuses the blood money inheritance. So he "moonlights" to catch border smugglers. Clearly he deserves a promotion by now. He poses as a Mexican who wants to illegally get into America. He goes to the pottery gift shop where in the back room is a different operation. A secretary is there. They want 30,000 pesos to transport him and he will have to work one full year with them to pay the rest. Along with the other mexicans, he is forced to carry a gallon of clear substance. They are not to open it or drink it. It is a chemical or acid used for drugs. It will burn through your skin. If you do not have the jug after the walk, they will not give you a ride in. Now Adam knows for sure this is the illegal smuggling group. He makes it through, but some are shot to death. Now he is a migrant worker and his plan is about to backfire. There are no phones where he is at. No way to call his work. He is getting deeper and deeper with no way out.
Hollywood does it again. Not one shot was filmed inside Mexico, but shot entirly in San Diego, California.
DVD includes optional Spanish subtitles.

5 out of 9 people found this helpful.
good for its intentions
Added 11/8/2004

This film is about a biracial man from a single parent home. He is racist and xenophobic. His bigoted peers convince him to sneak across the border in order to help Border Patrol. The plan gets fouled and he finds out what happens to many Mexican immigrants: slavery, rape, and nefarious abuses. I know someone who thought this film was sexist, but I think the main character is meant to be confused and one of his ways of showing that is through misogyny. This director mortgaged his home in order to finance this film. He's a cutie and you get to see his body really quickly in this work. I wish him best of luck behind the camera, but I hope he gets to appear in front of the camera just as much. Many people outside of California and Texas believe anything they are told about "illegal" immigration; this film is a low-budget, but well-intentioned, attempt to try to reverse that discourse into progressive directions.
7 out of 7 people found this helpful.
A good movie with holes
Added 10/19/2004

The movie is good, but it has holes and leaves viewers wondering what happened. Makes a good point of seeing a different view of illegal aliens.
4 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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