‘At the Gates’ Review: Politically Conscious Thriller Preys on the Fears of ICE & Deportation
variety.comManuel Betancourt The life of many an undocumented domestic worker is marked by fear. The threat of deportation may feel remote at times, but it hovers over them nonetheless — and structures their experience in ways both big and small.
Exploiting such paranoia, Augustus Meleo Bernstein’s provocative if listless “At the Gates” creates a scenario where a housekeeper and her teenage son must trust her employers when ICE agents (or so they’re told) arrive in search of them both.
Aiming to be a tense drama about trust, the film struggles to balance the personal and cultural stakes at the heart of its neat conceit.
When Ana (Vanessa Benavente, a standout) arrives at her employer’s lavish home with her son Nico (Ezekiel Pacheco) in tow, she expects that day to be like many before.
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