Green Border Review: Riveting Monochrome Ensemble Thriller Captures Europe’s Immigration Crisis With Grace

It’s not called the “green” border for monetary reasons. Nope, there are no fiscal promises here. Rather, false promises of guaranteed freedom. For her latest crowning achievement, director and co-writer Agnieszka Holland – who has been nominated for multiple Oscars (for Angry Harvest, In Darkness, and Europa Europa) – uses her platform of expertise to explore the swampy forests between Belarus and Poland. More specifically, Green Border follows a series of refugees who dare to approach the territory with hopes of leaving the Middle East and Africa behind and ultimately reaching the European Union. The worst part? It’s all a ruse, a propaganda-laced predicament allegedly orchestrated by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in an attempt to provoke Europe.

Don’t let the film’s black-and-white visual aesthetic fool you into thinking this is some vintage history piece. The story takes place only two years back, in the year 2022, and the desaturated look is an artistic choice that highlights the morally challenging statements the film makes about the events and horrors we witness. Green Border is a politically charged and thought-provoking feature that might still haunt you days and weeks later.

Green Border

4/5

In the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so called ‘green border’ between Belarus and Poland, refugees from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach the European Union are caught in a geopolitical crisis triggered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In an attempt to provoke Europe, refugees are lured to the border by propaganda promising easy passage to the EU. Pawns in this hidden war, the lives of Julia, a newly minted activist who has given up her comfortable life, Jan, a young border guard, and a Syrian refugee family intertwine.

Release Date

June 21, 2024

Director

Agnieszka Holland

Cast

Jalal Altawil , Maja Ostaszewska , Tomasz Włosok , Behi Djanati Atai , Mohamad Al Rashi , Dalia Naous , Maciej Stuhr , Agata Kulesza

Writers

Agnieszka Holland , Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko , and Maciej Pisuk

Studio(s)

Metro Films , Astute Films , Blick Productions , Marlene Film Production , Beluga Tree

Distributor(s)

Kino Lorber

Pros

• Dynamic performances from everyone involved.
• A documentary-like aesthetic adds to the realism of the performances, making Green Border feel like a seminal document.
• The film expertly balances moments of suspense, hope, and utter cruelty.

Cons

• Multiple storylines and many characters, across a long runtime, can create narrative confusion.

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Green Border Is a Crisis Divided Into Chapters

Holland divides her tale into chapters, though the wraparound story centers on a family from Belarus that can’t seem to catch a break, to put it mildly. The lovable clan is led by patriarch Bashir (the excellent Jalal Altawil) alongside his own elderly father (Al Rashi Mohamad), among others – including innocent children who are simply oblivious to the crisis and related horrors that surround them. As the title suggests, they’re headed for the border.

Watch out for a chilling and unforgettable scene at a refugee camp they end up at, where the family politely asks the guards for some water, to which the guards reply by demanding an absurd sum of money, snatching their wallet aggressively, and dumping out the water the family already had. Awful stuff, and Holland dares you to imagine that this is just one of countless similar tragedies the migrants at the Belarus-Poland border have had to endure.

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If the verbal assaults on this poor family is hard enough to stomach, then watching them fling themselves over barbed wiring and other impossible physical obstacles is a whole separate beast. It’s all captured on film, up close and personal, to thrilling and unnerving effect, and at times, you might catch yourself thinking, “Wait, is this a documentary?” There’s a whole border crisis of our own happening between the U.S. and Mexico at the moment, and the swampy “green” nature of the border in Holland’s powerful new film proves that border crises are international and only getting worse.

Players Involved: From Jan to Julia

Once we’ve seen enough of Bashir’s unparalleled troubles at the border opposite Polish guards and increasingly harsh precipitation from above, the story moves on to Chapters 2 and 3, introducing us to composite characters on opposite ends of the crisis spectrum. There’s young, handsome guard Jan (Tomasz Wlosok), a Harris Dickinson lookalike with a pregnant wife at home and an unfinished house he’s too lazy to renovate before the baby arrives.

And it’s too bad he won’t get the reno done – because that leaves the property open for migrants to squat in when he’s not around and off patrolling the green border with a scary rifle in hand. His morally centered character arc is a bit predictable, but no matter: Jan is a thrill to watch as he becomes increasingly rattled on a mental level by the horrid job he’s required to do each day. And yes, in an ensemble piece like Green Border, as we’ve learned with past classics like Short Cuts (1993) and Magnolia (1999), Jan’s journey may eventually intertwine with other characters we’ve already met…

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Then there’s Julia (the superb Maja Ostaszewska), a Polish stay-at-home therapist-turned-activist who ditches her cozy, Zoom-friendly lifestyle for the sake of the greater good, as they say. She’s darn good at her job as a psychologist, as we gather when we first meet her in one of her virtual therapy sessions, but once she witnesses down the street what’s going on near the border, she can’t help but get involved to help those less fortunate. That means teaming up with already-seasoned activists like Marta (Monika Frajczyk) and Zuku (Jasmina Polak), a pair who are a hoot to watch and even laugh-out-loud funny at times as they bicker about their day-to-day strategy for aiding the hopeless refugees and more.

It’s a cruel world we live in, particularly if your life happens to cross paths with a crisis like the one explored in Green Border, and you may want to escape this world with sugary entertainment, which is more than fine. But this is can’t-miss cinema that has the Criterion Collection written all over it. Sure, it might run too long for some and be a bit too politically charged for others, but we say “buckle up” and embrace the crisis. You’ll learn a thing or two and may even be inspired to take action to help in some way. From Kino Lorber, Green Border begins playing in select theaters on June 21.