IR Film Review: AT THE GATES [Picturehouse]
The essence of class structure and immigration is a discussion that permeates a lot of society. The angle is also based in perception and perspective. The new film "At The Gates", starring Noah Wyle and Miranda Otto, positions itself as a thriller but, in more ways than one, it is about rights, tendencies and the imbalanced scale of equality that still permeates society. Set in what looks like Pasadena, Vanessa Benavente plays Ana, a hardworking housemaid who works for the Mr. and Mrs. Burns (Wyle and Otto). Her 17 year-old-son Nico, who is getting ready to go to college, comes to help her. On that day, the police and ICE comes with knowledge that the Burns are employing illegals and searching for the right to search the premises, detain them and take further legal action. This is likely something that happens every day in some cities.
What is interesting here is the psychological back and forth including the essence of control and power. While not violent, it is emotionally battering in many ways because the people involved are constrained by the power of choice and what they think is right. Otto as Marianne Burns, the mother of the house, has a split intentions and likely obsessive compulsive with a superiority complex which she tries to hide in the mileau of conscience. Wyle as Peter Burns is a lawyer who is unemployed and is in a different headspace but is hiding something plus a rage complex. Benavente as Ana is just trying to get by and be strong but the pecking order frustrates her and yet she has learned to navigate.
Her son Nico (played by Ezekiel Pacheko) is much more impulsive, headstrong and doesn't listen (which goes against a little bit of his college approach since he likely knows how to play the game). His brazeness in the house rattles everyone including the daughter Lauren (Sadie Stanley) who sees this side of it but that creates a whole other complication. The entire situation is frought with difficuties and layers about who is saying what, what they are hiding and what the outcome will be. In this way, it is scripted very well and the level of tension works, even though it is not really a genre film. It is simply a story of human being in an impossible situation but also one of their own making in a way, with the best intentions but also the reality (on both sides) of survival. B
By Tim Wassberg
