Scandinavian Nepali Diaspora

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"Border Town": A Movie with Reflection of  True Journalism

By Prabin K. Prajapati

Fortunately, I had an opportunity once to watch a Hollywood movie ‘BORDER TOWN’. This particular movie impressed me so much that I was compelled to write something about it.  Each and every field of human profession, there are challenges and problems and the success is only recognized when these challenges are accepted and solved through alienating oneself from the biasness. The movie obviously is fascinating from a journalist’s perspective and is highly sensational.

With demarcation of North and South, developed and underdeveloped countries according to the then president of US, Truman, these two worlds have big gaps economically and socially. These two worlds, one is rich and the other is very poor. Rich and wealthy world presents itself materially rich, inherits high democratic norms and freedom whereas the other world has sufferings, poverty, organized crimes, less economic opportunity and corrupt system. The setting of the movie goes rounds  along the border towns of Mexico and America.

The countries from Latin America, once colonized nations, still are highly dependent on North in terms of economic and social subsistence. Rich countries excessively use human resources from underdeveloped countries for cheap labor supply but ignore the corporate responsibility. The lesson I have derived from the movie ‘Border Town’ is that media, to some extent could be a mediator for the resolving the problems of conflict between rich and poor worlds. Problems persist if the media doesn’t heed  or mold hidden and embedded underground world into the news. And, sometime news are distorted, directed and biased for hidden political motives. The movie starts with an organized crime. A factory girl is raped and is fatally attempted to  be killed however is successful to save herself. She returns home with very critical condition. One of her relatives protects her and the crime is not brought for the public prosecution. They know that criminals are well protected by the state mechanism and have enormous networks.  On the other hand, a reporter (Jennifer Lopez) in Washington is assigned to find out the fact of lost factory women and unclaimed dead bodies of women found around old symmetry. Earlier, there have already been many factory women missing and many were found with horrible dead as often reported.

The main character who is a young lady reporter of well established and renowned newspaper from US accepts the challenge to find out the perpetrators of this organized crime and aims to bring for public interest.  She tries to explore the truth. When she approaches the spot, she neither gets any support from the police nor from the state red stripers; she is discouraged by concerned politicians even to explore the truth.  Without any cooperation, she dives into a risk and becomes a factory worker to disguise herself from the criminals. She wants to find out the rapist and killer herself to bring the truth out ultimately and with the help of criminal to catch the links. Meanwhile she also takes the responsibility to protect the life of survived girl who had already gone through a dreadful accident.  Involving these two formidable risks, she finally finds the true chain of organized criminals. When the report is made, she goes back to her office in US and meets the boss, she comes to know that the whole mission of reporting was politically motivated and was a mediated plan to make a diplomatic pressure to the concerned government.  The boss of the newspaper denies publishing the report.  He discloses the fact that the government has already changed of their favor so the report has no more meaning. This unexpected response makes her shocked. She returns to the border town where she finds the girl again with a terrible situation. The perpetrators who want to get rid from the absolute eye witness of their crime attempt to kill her. I would like the readers watch themselves the climax.