Between Borders

In the end, “Between Borders” reveals how the Petroseyans, after enduring various hardships—leaving Azerbaijan, facing discrimination in Russia, and navigating the complex asylum process in America—are ultimately granted refuge in the United States. The film closes with imagery of the family happily integrated into their new life: the daughters volunteering, Ivan fixing things at the church, and everyone smiling under the Statue of Liberty’s shadow. However, beneath this seemingly happy ending lies a deeper commentary. The film seems to suggest that, despite winning legal refuge and achieving the American Dream, the Petroseyans’ true struggles remain unspoken. Their earlier experiences of violence, discrimination, and cultural erasure are sanitized and sentimentalized for the audience. The judge’s monologue about American ideals and the symbolic power of the Statue of Liberty offers a powerful but somewhat superficial sense of victory, as if the story were conveniently wrapped in patriotic tropes.

While the narrative portrays a hopeful conclusion, it also hints at the ongoing systemic barriers and prejudices that persist beyond the courtroom—a reality the Petroseyans may still face in subtle forms. The film has a tone that, at times, seems more concerned with presenting a feel-good immigrant story rather than engaging fully with the complex, often uncomfortable truths of displacement, identity, and acceptance. In this way, “Between Borders” ends on a note of bittersweet ambiguity, acknowledging that, although the family’s journey to safety is celebrated, the true cost of their displacement and the persistence of social inequalities are left largely unexamined, lurking just beneath the surface of the story’s final, euphoric tableau.

Last Updated: June 25, 2025 at 09:03