Beyond Borders (2003)***

Seen on 12-8-2009 - a HBO movie
Cast: Anelina Jole (Sarah), Clive Owen (Nick callahan)
Dir.: Martin Campbell

"Nick (Clive Owen), a medical student turned international disaster relief worker, and Sarah (Angelina Jolie), a philanthropist socialite, gradually fall in love after meeting time and again against the backdrops of disasters and wars throughout the world. Teri Polo plays Sarah's sister Charlotte, a globetrotting journalist."
---A Netflix summary
I want to understand why Roger Ebert found fault with this movie. He said:"'Beyond Borders'has good intentions and wants to call attention to the plight of refugees, but what a clueless vulgarization it makes of its worthy motives." To substantiate his point he says: "When the suffering of real children is used to enhance the image of movie stars who fall in love against the backdrop of their suffering, a certain decency is lacking. 'Beyond Borders' wants it both ways -- glamor up front, and human misery in the background to lend it poignancy." For better treatment he recommends MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM'S recent IN THIS WORLD. But for such pernickety faults, I thought Campbell did well in extending his canvas from Ethiopia, Knomn Phenn (Cumbodia), to Chechen,etc, maybe in order to emphasize everywhere it's the same whatever the circumstances: that is, poor common folk is caught in the crossfires of power politics in the developing countries and the good-intentioned aid workers like Nick had to take phenomenal risks and sometimes even had to deviate from neutral stance to do their work!! The politics of Aid politics was treated differently in CONSTANT GARDNER which too I had liked.