A favorite at small film festivals across the Southwest last year, this resounding drama about racism and immigrant smuggling was written and directed by frustrated Hollywood day-player John Carlos Frey, who also gives a tough, slow-burn performance as a self-hating, secretly half-Mexican, virulently anti-immigration border patrol officer.

Clandestinely connected with a right-wing group of thugs who go out at night to ambush illegals crossing the California border, when Frey is suspended from his job (over possible abuse of detainees) he goes undercover in Tijuana, hoping to help his cronies catch a batch of immigrants and smugglers -- but his plan backfires badly. The heavily armed smugglers mow down the redneck vigilantes and Frey, without a passport, identity papers or a badge, winds up a virtual slave at a remote ranch and meth lab, where illegals are indentured to work off the inflated price of their passage.

The horrors and hardships Frey and his fellow immigrants face (including murder and a young mother repeatedly raped by the not entirely villainous ranch owner) force self-reflection, re-examination, and eventually a desire to rescue these people -- but that's an over-simplification of the evocative humanity of "The Gatekeeper."

The film's potent suspense, strong writing and acting, and an open-ended finale of perfect emotional pitch make up for its budget- and inexperience-related shortcomings, save one that takes some getting used to: Why does everyone speak fluent English -- even the immigrants amongst themselves? Frey might have been striving for a wider audience, but the practical upshot is a loss of authenticity.

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