Rating: R
Genre: Crime
Release Date: 10/12/2004
SubTitles: Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 103 min
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios

Adam Fields (John Carlos Frey, who also wrote, directed, and produced the film) is a law enforcement agent patrolling the Mexican border outside San Diego. He's harboring two dangerous secrets. His bosses don't know that he belongs to a racist, right wing vigilante group called National Patrol, that harasses and assaults illegals as they try to cross the border. His confederates in the National Patrol don't know that his own mother is Mexican. Adam, who easily passes for Caucasian, doesn't tell anyone about his mother, a former prostitute. Frustrated with the border patrol's efforts to curtail border crossings, Adam and the shock jock leader of National Patrol, Jack Green (J. Patrick McCormack), come up with a scheme to embarrass the border patrol into taking their concerns more seriously. Adam will go undercover as a Mexican and cross the border into the states to show how easy it is, while capturing everything on a hidden video camera. Adam pays to be brought over, but once in the U.S., the scheme goes horribly awry, and Adam winds up stuck with a hapless group of illegals, forced to work for ruthless criminals at a crystal meth lab. Unable to escape, he gets a firsthand look at the hardships the illegal immigrants endure. Frey tried to sell his script for The Gatekeeper to a Hollywood studio, but, unwilling to compromise his vision, eventually decided to finance the film himself. The Gatekeeper was shown at the 2002 Urbanworld Film Festival and at the 2002 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where it won the Phoenix Award.

~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

John Carlos Frey demonstrates a good deal of talent as the director, writer, and star of The Gatekeeper. His film is earnestly well meaning, but it's somewhat lacking in depth. The problems begin with the unlikely premise of the film. While the plight of illegal immigrants is well documented, and while many of the events that take place in the film mirror actual events, the conceit that sets the story of The Gatekeeper in motion -- a border patrol agent who is secretly half-Mexican and secretly part of a right wing anti-immigration group goes undercover as an illegal immigrant to embarrass his bosses -- is underdeveloped and fairly ludicrous. The vagueness of the National Patrol's plan is a major sticking point of the plot. In addition, the villains of the piece, from Adam's (Frey) cohorts at the National Patrol to the sinister crystal meth producers who enslave the immigrants, are played too broadly, and the illegals with whom Adam finds himself trapped are a bit too angelic. Adam himself is a fairly interesting character, but Frey hasn't filled out the supporting parts as well. Eva (Michelle Agnew), the desperate single mother who forms an understandably antagonistic relationship with Adam at first, is the closest the film comes to a three-dimensional supporting character. Frey has also been criticized for making his film in English in an apparent effort to broaden its appeal. The Gatekeeper is still a worthy drama about a compelling subject. The setup may be contrived, but it does allow Frey to explore an important subject from a unique point-of-view.

~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

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