04/07/2023 - Philippe Van Leeuw looks at the equally inscrutable and unredeemable character of racism at the heart of a US Border Patrol, embarked on a manhunt that is most of all a hunt for anyone “other”

Philippe Van Leeuw first made his name with two strong and uncompromising first features. The Day God Went Away [+see also:
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interview: Philippe Van Leeuw
film profile], which had its world premiere at the Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF) in the National Competition, the director explores territories that are new both geographically and cinematically. 

Jessica Comley works as a Border Patrol, watching the border between the United States and Mexico. For her, this is a family affair, since her father and mother watched the border before her — or rather chased away the people who tried to cross it. This is also a family affair of José, a member of the Tohono O’odham community who likewise travels up and down the border, helping dehydrated migrants mistreated by the police and the desert. The story begins with the young woman, before turning to the old man, until the two of them cross paths and a shot rings out in the desert. 

Jessica’s life seems as harsh and arid as the desert plains of Arizona. In this stifling atmosphere, her emotions are, it seems, entirely tuned out. All that remains are tenacious hatred and visceral racism, based on a blind faith in the system.

Vicky Krieps embodies the banality of evil with striking force and precision. We can imagine the actress walking on a wire, playing a woman irremediably imbued with hatred but also pathologically alone and profoundly unhappy. Mike Wilson, an activist from the Tohono O’odham nation here in his first role, imposes his presence and helps give life to a story in which the hatred of others reigns. 

The wall of the title is, of course, that erected by Trump, a living mausoleum to the glory of his adulterated patriotism. But it is also all the other walls that disfigure the world, raising barriers between people. Jessica’s belief in her own racial superiority, when she sees in the face of the man she kills in cold blood — a wise Native American who dares contradict her — less than a human being, less than a “true” American, echoes many other such beliefs, manifestations of an endemic racism rampant across the world, on this border and on others. 

An unflinching dissection of the banality of evil, The Wall resonates as an ultra-contemporary western at grips with the universal demons of racism and the fear of the other. 

The Wall is produced by Belgian company Altitude 100, which had already worked with the director on Insyriated, and co-produced by Minds Meet (Belgium), Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg), Beo Films (Denmark) and US companies A Street Productions and Monsoon. International sales are handled by Indie Sales. The film will be distributed in Belgium by O’Brother Distribution, who will release the film on 27 September.

(Translated from French)