While spending summers on his grandparents’ cattle ranch in Freer, 60 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, writer-director Joseph T. Walker often saw migrants crossing through the South Texas brush country, driven by hopes of a better life in America.
When migrants knocked on the screen door asking for water, his grandfather never turned them away. Sometimes, his grandmother would make them a home-cooked meal.
As Walker grew older, he came to realize that the sensationalized stories surrounding immigration often stripped away the humanity of the people at the center of the story.
Walker sought to challenge that narrative with his first feature film, Broken Land. The drama follows a Texas rancher (David Morse) whose solitary life along the border is upended after he accidentally shoots a young migrant woman (Jaklyn Bejarano) crossing his property.
Injured and desperate to reach San Antonio so she can catch a bus to Colorado, the woman turns to the rancher for help. Faced with an impossible choice, he must decide whether to help her continue her journey or turn her over to his estranged son (Bill Heck), a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
During a recent interview with the Current, Walker and Morse, who’s best known for films including The Green Mile and The Hurt Locker, talked about working with first-time actress Jaklyn Bejarano, shooting the film at Walker’s grandparents’ ranch in Freer, and what they hope audiences understand from the timely immigration storyline.
Broken Land will become available on demand Friday, June 12.
JT, where did you find actress Jaklyn Bejarano? She was amazing!
Joseph T. Walker: She’s a stage actress from Mexico City. This was her first film. We looked at a bunch of Mexican American and Latino American actresses. It was very hard to find someone who didn’t sound like Spanish was their second language. So, we did a search in Mexico. One of our producers had a friend in the Mexican film industry. I met Jaklyn in Mexico City. I wish her audition was in the movie because it was so damn good. It made the casting director cry. She’s absolutely amazing! Spread the word!
David, since you’re a vet in this industry, what was it like working across from somebody who had never been in a film before?
David Morse: It’s a gift when you work with somebody as completely truthful and alive as Jaklyn is in [Broken Land]. She brought me to life in our scenes, and that’s what you want. You want to be present. Working with Jaklyn, you don’t have to pretend you’re in that world. You have to give yourself over to the landscape and to this fantastic woman.
David, you’re originally from Boston. What did it take to become a Texan in this movie?
DM: I went down [to Texas] early and lived on one of the ranches where we shot. I spent a lot of time helping take care of the animals. It was a great way to transition into that world. It also helped to have a script that JT wrote that felt like it came out of the Texas earth.
JT, how did shooting in Freer help with the authenticity of the film?
JTW: Yeah, I think there’s one stoplight in that town. We shot at my grandparents’ ranch. That house has been abandoned for about 20 years. You don’t have to pretend. You’re saturated in that environment. I love interacting with environments and having them impinge themselves on the film. The world is enlivening what you’re doing. When we got a dust storm, we were like, “Oh, cool, let’s go shoot!”
JT, how do you hope audiences respond to this storyline, especially given how timely these debates on immigration are right now?
JTW: I wanted to tell a story that I was fascinated by. I’m happy that there’s an opportunity for the film to reflect what’s happening, but it wasn’t the original intention. In terms of the environment we’re in, I hope people watch the movie and see that it’s about how the politics dissolve awayin light of this connection between these two human beings. It’s really about these two characters. As they get to know each other, the labels dissolve. Politics are still politics, but you still have to make decisions.
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