One of the most dehumanizing features — which is certainly a built-in component and not a bug — of the U.S. immigration system as it pertains to asylum seekers is that the applicant bears the burden of proving they have suffered enough or that they risk death in their home country in order to be granted permission to stay. The more horrifying the survived experiences, the better the chances for a positive outcome. But how does one precisely quantify someone’s distress or the likelihood that their safety will be threatened? These stipulations exist more to keep people from the developing world out than to offer them protection.
The Christian drama “Between Borders” uses a contentious asylum trial as a framing device to tackle the real-life case of the Petrosyan family, an ethnic Armenian couple and their two daughters, for whom Azerbaijan was the only home they’d ever known. Although tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis are longstanding, specifically over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, for most of the 20th century, Russia maintained a semblance of order. But as the Soviet Union began to crumble, bloodshed erupted, resulting in more that 30,000 deaths and 200,000 displaced Armenians who fled Azerbaijan between 1988 and 1994.
Timely as the subject matter remains in the current political climate — especially since most Americans have little clue as to how their government institutions treat refugees and immigrants — the latest inspirational narrative from director Mark Freiburger (2013’s “Jimmy”), who co-wrote the screenplay with Isaac Norris and Adam Sjoberg, aims for middling impact at best. Proficiently crafted as far as production design and cinematography go (the sets and exteriors are believable enough as Eastern Europe, while the camerawork and lighting appear unimaginatively standard), “Between Borders” runs on didactic writing that renders the Petrosyans’ plight into a derivative period drama.
Rocket scientist Ivan Petrosyan (Patrick Sabongui) and his school principal wife Violetta (Elizabeth Tabish) escape Azerbaijan after their neighbors, also Armenians, are killed. They eventually make it to Russia, where discrimination from both authorities and employers becomes their new reality. It’s only through a group of local parishioners with ties to a church in West Virginia that the Petrosyans find a sense of community. Still, outside of the congregation violence lurks. As Ivan and Violetta recall their trauma in the present, counselor Whitlow (Elizabeth Mitchell) harshly questions their newly found faith, their ties to communism, and their reasons for wanting to make America their permanent home.
The choice of making the film entirely in English, probably motivated by a desire for wider appeal, hurts the artistic quality greatly. That’s not only because of the obvious inaccuracy of having scenes set in Azerbaijan or Russia with characters speaking in fluent English, but because this contributes to the stiltedness of the performances. Tabish and Sabongui say their already platitudinous dialogue in forcibly accented English, making one hyperaware of their self-conscious, contrived acting. The child actors playing their daughters (Sofia Pistireanu and Natalia Badea) are just as brazenly unnatural in their delivery.
Certain details need explaining during the courtroom sequences due to this language component, such as the fact that the family couldn’t find work in Armenia because, while they are ethnically Armenians, they do not speak the language since they were born and raised in Azerbaijan. Such instances of over-explanatory context and uninspired, ill-timed dialogue evolve into the verbose and on-the-nose speech that Ivan utters when confronting a group of hooligans, or to the judge in the case (played by Michael Paul Chan) reciting the text written on the Statue of Liberty before announcing his verdict.
An artistically mediocre movie with generally good intentions (there’s something to be said about how religious groups offer aid in hopes that the beneficiaries convert), “Between Borders” exists primarily as a message-dissemination vehicle. Seemingly unconcerned with pursuing cinematic excellence, Freiburger wraps up the tale in utterly saccharine fashion and avoids engaging with the topic’s more challenging political nuances.
Will Christian viewers touched by the story of these fellow Christians seeking refuge in this country be willing to extend similar empathy to refugees or migrants who are not of their same faith, who are not highly educated or who are not running from communism? It often seems that sincere believers have the ability to compartmentalize their compassion and lack the self-awareness to see that their actions and ideologies go against their religious values. “Between Borders” offers this crowd an ideal narrative about a family they can get behind, but will they self-interrogate or be honest about why the Petrosyans are worthy of the kindness they so easily deny others? Unlikely.
“Between Borders” will get a one-day special-event release on Jan. 26, with extremely limited theatrical showtimes in the days immediately following.
