Frontier

Director Leon de Winter has taken a thriller with political and psychological overtones, and scrambled it into a series of vignettes that are mixed-up in time and in location, thereby dashing any hope of following the story. A journalist goes to a southern European country to interview a well-known terrorist who has refused to stop his activities even though the revolution he fought for ended successfully five years earlier. Questions are raised about adopting violence as a way of life without at first realizing it and about the seeming impossibility of raising the consciousness of backwater cultures. Perhaps because of the way the story has been filleted into fragments, characters like the journalist and terrorist do not have enough continuous screen time to build up their individuality, a second factor that makes it difficult to become involved in the drama.

Directed by Leon de Winter, Frontier leans on a strong ensemble — Johan Leysen, Linda van Dyck, Angela Winkler — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about thriller titles of 1984.