LOS ANGELES — The U.S.-Mexico border — especially during this presidential election year, and especially as both Democrats and Republicans remain unable to agree on any sort of immigration reform — is often a hot topic reduced to an abstraction. As rhetoric flies, the humans living in the crisis can be reduced to numbers and concepts.
The new film “The Absence of Eden,” seeks to pull a lens toward people struggling to survive on the border. It follows Esmee, played by Zoe Saldana, as she flees her homeland for sanctuary in the United States after killing a cartel member in a violent act of self-defense.
Her journey, guided by a ruthless human smuggling “coyote,” takes her through the desert landscape, interacting with armed officers and forging relationships with other immigrants and refugees.
Marco Perego, the film’s director and co-writer, said he wanted to make a film about immigration and continue the conversation regarding “this very human issue.”
But Perego didn’t just want to tell a story about the border crossings. He wanted to create a story that showed what happens to people who brave the border for a life in the U.S.
“The conversation, I hope, with this film is ... the film starts with a question and ends with a question. I don’t want to tell you how to think. My point is to have a conversation about where we are … is it really our problem? Or it’s not our problem? That is the question. At some point, we need to understand that people jump into the unknown and they really try to do something for themselves and their family. There is a human aspect that we forgot in the conversation, and I think what ‘The Absence of Eden’ does is open this conversation about being a human being,” he said.
Saldana told Spectrum News that playing Esmee in the film was a reminder to leave out her personal bias and her personal opinions about why someone decides to put their lives at risk and the lives of their family, to cross over, to swim over, to sail over from their home to a new one. In portraying Esmee, Saldana says what was important to her was to play a human being who faced adversity, forced to survive in an environment she had no control over.
“I believe Esmeralda did not have it in her to harm anybody … to take anything without permission. I believe Esmeralda had every willingness to work really hard and be a decent citizen. I wanted to play a human being with an open heart and open mind,” she said.
“The Absence of Eden,” Saldana says, helps better understand the risk-taking journey across the border.
“To deeply understand that journey is risk-taking … that the journey is dangerous … that the journey has spiritual, psychological and physical setbacks on people … that means something,” she said.
Garrett Hedlun, who plays an immigration officer in the film, tells Spectrum News he hopes it creates awareness, compassion and education.
“It’s a particular story about a particular man, a particular woman going through some drastic obstacles. Where I am from, where I grew up, I never got to see anybody experience, go through these things in life. It’s an eye-opener,” he said.
“The Absence of Eden” opens in theaters this weekend.
Click the arrow above to watch the full interview with Zoe Zaldana, Garrett Hedlund and Marco Perego.
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