Writer: Syahida Kamarudin

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Watch this if you liked: "Crash", "Babel"

The beauty of "Crossing Over" starts with the writer-director, Wayne Kramer who himself was once an immigrant from South Africa.

It then turns into a journey into the world of legal and illegal aliens, and their struggle for citizenship in Los Angeles. Seen from the viewpoint of the many individuals involved in the world of immigration; the lives of these people are interconnected in various of ways. There is Max Brogan and Denise Frankel, two immigration officers of different departments whose empathy towards these aliens sometimes turn personal. Among them, we see the story of Mireya Sanchez who is separated from her son when when captured in a raid and deported back to Mexico. There's Taslima, who didn't know that a school essay she wrote became a root to her legalisation trouble. Gavin Kossef, a Jewish atheist who ironically uses religion as a 'green card' to get his green card while Claire Shephard, an Aussie actress found herself trapped in a sex scandal in order to get hers.

With a star-studded cast from ranging from old yet not-that-grey Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta, to the young talents of Jim Sturgess among others, expect very convincing performances especially Judd as the sympathetic officer whose motherly instinct became her one source of motivation in her duty. It is especially interesting to watch Sturgess making up prayers in Hebrew and cheekily try to pass off as a qualified rabbi in front of a clueless immigration official.

The only hiccup comes in a form of the scissor-happy Censorship Board. Yes, the multiple hacks and slashes may not alter the storyline, but a nuisance all the same. Certain dialogues are chopped off absent-mindedly, that it feels like reading a letter filled with ink blotches.

A story dealing with naturalisation, persona non grata, fraud, social alienation, cultural stratification and even terrorism to some extent, this might not be your cup of tea if your presence in a cinema is to be mindlessly entertained through and through. Thought provoking, honest and at times cynical, this might fulfill that blackhole one creates from all that corny horrors shoved into one's head.

Cinema Online, 17 April 2009