The Absence of Eden

I think Zoe is an incredible actress. With that being said, I wish she would have skipped this film. It didn't do anything for her career. The story line seemed like it was going to be good but it was terrible! I'm so disappointed. I could have turned it off in the middle and still felt the same as I did at the end. The ending was nonexistent really. The story lacked many great opportunities it could have had to tell a real and raw depiction of the circumstances the characters were in.

Why describe the movie and the ice agent and Zoe's character working together? They didn't work together AT ALL.

I'm really bummed that I wasted my time on a movie I had high hopes for.

I didn't have too much to say about this, it just felt incredibly short. Looking at the themes and scenarios the movie explored, the movie does so only at surface level. I think the intro to Esmeralda raised the tension quite quickly, we're introduced to her in a pretty dicey scenario. It gave insight into her decision to leave. There wasn't too much I disliked about it. One specific thing was the pep talks by the coyote - like he's a good kind hearted coyote? But it wasn't something that bothered me too much. The story is alright, tragic but not particularly moving. I don't think the stuff about the grandma added much to the film, all the stories and narrations from her diary. The movie had pretty good and consistent atmosphere, a dark tone. The big issue is that it just ends out of nowhere, like I was in and out the theatre. Even the subplots end abruptly, logically but abruptly. Like Adria Arjona character feels like an important part of the movie then she's just no longer there. The conflicts the movie has are resolved pretty quickly, made the movie anticlimactic. A few twists and turns wouldn't have hurt the movie. Otherwise not bad, nothing special.

This film stars one of the biggest Latin stars of Hollywood cinema, Zoe Saldaña. Her performance as Esmeralda Rojas, someone forced to illegally cross the border for killing an abuser, does not disappoint. I really liked the way she pronounces Spanish and her fluid transition between this language and English gives a lot of strength to her dialogues in both languages. Also very prominent and powerful is the presence of Adria Arjona, sensual and expressive in the role of the young mother Yadira, and romantic interest of the Border Police member, Garrett Hedlund (Shipp), in a role of someone who is being pushed to the limits of his endurance when facing the conflicts of opposing loyalties. Chris Coy, as Dobbins, stands out as the tough law enforcement officer who is on the verge of sadism and who is in charge of instructing his rookie partner, Shipp, in the art of ignoring the human misery of those who are exploited to enter the United States illegally and treating them with the appropriate distance and harshness.

The film was directed by Marco Perego who also shared credits with Rick Rapozza in writing the script. Excellent work for someone who wants to communicate with art a drama of our current world. I am neither American nor Mexican, I am Argentinean so I am far from this border drama. The reflection that comes to me after having seen the film is that everything seems like a game with perverse rules destined for good intentions to always fail and where human suffering never takes precedence over the role that each party must play in the development of the action. Once the drama is over, the only thing that persists are the inflexible rules of the game that wait to receive a new round of participants to crush them with their rigidity. A truly frustrating situation and very inauspicious for the supposed greatness, compassion and flexibility of the human mind.

I never rate movies, but this has to be said!

The description of the film and even the shortened description don't hold true...The main characters actually never work together to save a girl, they barely cross paths in this sloppily put-together movie that didn't know what it wanted to be and left the viewer sad and confused.

The topic is complicated and should feel sad, but the movie was just bad, good acting though. At times there was this hopeful artsy element, but it felt random and was not consistent at all.

Go ahead and skip this one when you're looking for a good drama movie to watch on Hulu.

Absolutely in love with Zoe Saldana. To be honest, all the actors/actresses did a really great job in this film, but the issue isn't with the acting... the issues lie with the storyline. Things started off strong and caught my attention really quickly - An immigrant woman who is fleeing from her abuser only to come in contact with more abuse while trying to get over the border. She bonds with a young girl who gets separated from her mother and Zoe's character becomes protective over the girl. This movie had everything to be an amazing, highly recommended movie, but the lack of execution in the storyline was so disappointing! What happened? Where did they end up? Where are they now? The abrupt ending leaves you with such a long list of questions. I hate movies that leave the story unfinished or that leave the plot at the peak with no real ending which is sadly, exactly what happened in this movie. What could've been a solid 7-8 star rating plummeted to a 3-4 star rating due to the lack of ending and lack of answers.