'Border Wars,'
okay, we surrender
You have to admire the work of the folks who patrol
By Tom Conroy
Jan 8, 2010
When something is a well-done example of its genre, it can still be generic.
That’s the problem with the National Geographic Channel’s “Border Wars,” a new documentary series that follows the agents and officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection based in Nogales, Ariz. The footage of the law-enforcement officials pursuing, interrogating and arresting illegal aliens and drug smugglers, although well shot and edited, looks like “Cops in Arizona.”
The show, premiering at 9 p.m. this Sunday and airing at 9 on subsequent Mondays, provides such a complete view of the agents’ work that one starts to fear that the resourceful criminals south of the border are going to watch it to see how they can avoid getting caught next time.
But the series has some problems with storytelling. The narrator points out that the CBP works on land, in the air (in helicopters) and at the port of entry on the Mexican border. This only underscores the rote way each episode cuts from one of these fronts to another.
Just as an officer in the desert is closing in on a group that might be either drug smugglers or illegal aliens, the show cuts to a dog sniffing for drugs in a truck at the border crossing. Sometimes a storyline seems to be resolved but pops up again later.
The narration consistently pumps up the drama. As the agents close in on their targets, viewers are told that the suspects may be armed and may be willing to do anything to avoid arrest.
As evidenced by the four episodes National Geographic made available for review (spoiler alert!), the chances that the illegals will violently resist arrest are extremely low. While no one would wish for the officers to be put in jeopardy, one might wish that the narrator would stop talking about possible dangers that never come to pass. Each episode also starts with a mention that the agents are combating terrorism, but thankfully, no terrorist ever shows up.
The actual arrests, moreover, almost always happen off camera. When the producers finally get a shot of an agent tackling a fleeing suspect, they’re so excited that they replay it several times.
Generally, the various officers profiled don’t stand out. They tend to be the kind of straight-arrow types who make you happy that they’re defending our borders but who don’t necessarily make for great television.
Although every single suspect or perp in the series seems to be either Mexican or Mexican-American, the overall effect isn’t racist. Many of the CPB agents have Spanish surnames, and both the narrator and the officers themselves stress that the bad guys aren’t the illegal immigrants who come to the U.S. looking for work but the criminals who exploit them. In fact, the illegals out in the desert often seem relieved to have been caught before they died of thirst.
There are interesting nuggets throughout. The agents discover a tunnel dug under the border just before the entrance to the American side is going to be opened. A potential felon is released back to Mexico because of the swine-flu scare. And an officer reminisces about the days when he could just walk across the border to visit his family in Mexico.
Still, while “Border Wars” conveys the importance of the CBP’s work, it also conveys how repetitive it is. Though “Cops” has shown that audiences will tune in to pretty much the same thing every week for years on end, most viewers will probably find one visit to this border area to be enough.
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