Die Mexico connection

Spotted this DVD on eBay and bought it on the cheap from someone in the UK. Watched it last night and all I can say is what a great surprise! This is a really well done political thriller in the tradition of Traffic. Daniels, Spader, de Rossi, and especially Clifton Collins do some terrific acting. The direction is tight, the story is interesting, the political angle is provocative, the Mexican sets are authentic. All in all a very good film for what was obviously a smallish budget.

Why this movie isn't on video in the US (was it ever shown in a theater?) is beyond me. Especially considering all the crap that IS on video. Does anyone know what happened to this movie?

Superficially, 'I Witness' sounds very promising: a thriller whose story mixes the battle of a union for recognition, a mass grave in Mexico and the mysterious vanishing of two American kids. But everyone speaks in that slick, snappy way you only seem to hear in film or TV, Jeff Daniels plays a human rights monitor as a self-righteous international detective, and Portia de Rossi is utterly ludicrous in her role, eye-candy disguised as an American trade envoy. More generally, the film lapses into portraying Mexico as a place where everything is utterly rotten, while the US government, although questioned, ultimately comes down on the right side in the rather ludicrous finale. Yet another criticism is that there's just too much action: for certain, there are plenty of worst offenders, but a drama with any real interest in Mexican assembly plants, or drug cartels, would follow a single story with more care, instead of decorating it with as many chases and gun fights as we get here. Ultimately, this is a film that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be: strip away the pretension to seriousness, and there's not much more than an underpowered version of something like the Jason Bourne films. It's a shame, because there's more than enough potential content in it's ideas to make a great movie.

I've read other comments here which say it's also like "Traffic." Ditto that for me as well. Don't know who these writers are (Colin Greene and Robert Ozn) but they are truly awesome. Tight plotting, terse cop-talk tied to characterization and impassioned issue oriented story-line without preaching. Love the way the writers tie the diverse story lines together at the very end. I never guessed how it was all related and they really knew how to keep me hooked. Jeff Daniels gives a very cool,understated performance. Love Portia DeRossi, very sexy without trying. And of course James Spader is always fascinating to watch - wish he had more to do in this flick. I saw this in Europe on a DVD. How come this thing is not out in the USA?!

In Mexico, two American dirtbikers are killed. In Tijuana, the police discovers a tunnel collapse with many bodies. This attracts the attention of human rights reporter Jim Rhodes (Jeff Daniels) and American representative Douglas Draper (James Spader). The police puts it as a simple drug tunnel collapse but Rhodes disagrees. Rhodes is also monitoring an union vote in an American company operating locally. Emily Thompson (Portia de Rossi) is an American trade representative. Roy Logan (Wade Williams) is the plant manager. Claudio Castillo (Clifton Collins Jr.) is a honest local cop. As the government lays everything on the drug lord, a deeper conspiracy is uncovered.

The production value is limited. The movie wants to be big. There are so many plot lines and characters going all over the place. Its ambition is bigger than the movie. Luckily for the movie, it has great actors at work. Jeff Daniels is great and all the actors down the line are top notch. The story needs a bit of simplification. It could slim the main cast down by one or two. The directions aren't good enough whether it's the action scenes or the crowds.

I've just watched this as the late night film on the BBC and have to say I was really impressed. I soldiered through the first 10 minutes or so which don't give a good impression of the film. After that however the characters grow or seem to be more comfortable, having moved away from a slightly stereotypical "do-gooder" (Daniels), "cute American" (de Rossi), "resentful cop" (Collins) and "enigmatic government agent" (Spader). When the characters are established they really seem to have a very natural relationship and the film stays away from any hint of being a "buddy movie", which given the seriousness of the topic, would have been a mistake. What you are left with are just well seen characterisations, the same is equally true for the supporting cast.

I enjoyed the setting of Mexico and the urban scenes which the director used to make the film look very 'normal'; no glossy idealised Mexican villages but equally no attempt to make the backdrop look squalid unless it needed to be. I suppose this is no big deal but it did make me pay more attention to the plot and the actors.

It is the plot and its unravelling which makes this worth watching. The viewer is lead through the story only knowing as much as the characters, and like them, is led down some blind alleys before the denouement, which in itself I found worthwhile.

Like another reviewer I found the ending just slightly contrived, apart from that I couldn't see any faults and have to say I found this thoroughly enjoyable and considerably more captivating and enjoyable than many of the so called thrillers being released at the moment.

If you get a chance to rent this or it's on TV then I'd say it's well worth watching.