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"Western"

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U.S. Documentary

The verite documentary "Western" is an elegantly structured look inside two communities on the U.S./Mexico border and the changes wrought by drug-cartel violence. Eagle Pass, Texas, and the Mexican city across the Rio Grande, Piedras Negras, are the friendliest of neighbors, according to Eagle Pass' mayor Chad Foster, one of the two subject profiled here. The other, Martín Wall, is a Texas cattle dealer who buys his cows in Mexico and sells them stateside — and for him, the border is good for business. But as cartel violence starts encroaching on neighboring towns, the U.S. government reacts with what the locals believe is panic: An embargo on cattle imports, which damages Wall's business, and the erection of the famed "border fence," which affects the communal spirit of the two towns. The filmmakers, brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross, stay unobtrusive as they follow Foster and Wall through their routines, as the cameras capture everyday events and panoramic views. The images, along with a stirring sound design and evocative musical score, paint an intensely moving portrait of two linked communities whose bonds are pulled by outside forces.

- Sean P. Means

"Western" is screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It screens again: Thursday, 5:30 p.m., The MARC, Park City; Friday, 3 p.m., Salt Lake City Library Theatre; Saturday, 10 a.m., Holiday Village Cinema 4, Park City.