Angelina Jolie returns to the big screen this week in ‘Beyond Borders,’ a self-proclaimed epic love story set against the backdrop of disaster relief efforts in the Middle East and Africa. Unfortunately, any point the movie tries to make about the needs of the impoverished and the relief workers who care for them ends up buried beneath the unconvincing, chemistry-free central romance.

Jolie and co-star Clive Owen (‘The Bourne Identity’) give stiff performances that do little to convince the audience of the supposedly undying love their characters feel. Granted, the clichd script doesn’t help – it overdramatizes the lives of disaster relief workers and minimizes the story’s emotional impact.

‘Beyond Borders’ begins with giddy socialites dancing away at a London charity ball to the classic rock song ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go?’ The song’s question is one that plagues heroine Sarah Jordan (Jolie) throughout the film. A naive young woman freshly married to dashing British businessman Henry Bauford (Linus Roache, ‘Hart’s War’), Sarah is moved to tears by the emotional pleas by Nick Callahan (Owen), a brash yet charismatic doctor heading up disaster relief efforts in Ethiopia.

Compelled to take action, Sarah drains her savings to buy much-needed supplies and travels to Ethiopia, where she comes face to face with the unimpressed doctor. Impatient with her naivete, he scoffs, ‘Are you wearing perfume in the middle of the desert?’

But soon enough their hostility erupts into passion, and the two spend the next several years torn between their responsibilities and their love while aiding refugees in Cambodia and Chechnya.

Best known for her edgier roles in ‘Girl, Interrupted’ and the ‘Tomb Raider’ films, Jolie proves unconvincing as a wealthy housewife turned philanthropist. She’s at her best when ‘Beyond Borders’ gives Sarah the chance to act out. After Nick gets beaten up by the Cambodian army for smuggling weapons into the camp, Sarah jumps in, surprising everyone by kicking him several times and cussing him out. She also does a good job in scenes with the character’s beloved children. But most of the time, Jolie plays Sarah as meek and moody, staring forlornly at the refugees or at her moody love interest.

Owen seems to go out of his way to make Nick as unlikable as possible. His words and mannerisms paint good doctor Nick as abrasive and self-involved, always willing to screw someone else over if it furthers his cause. Even in his more emotional and romantic moments with Jolie, Owen comes off as wooden and standoffish. The audience is left questioning why Sarah is so in love with this man – not a good sign when the film’s foundation is romance.

Directed by Martin Campbell (‘GoldenEye’), ‘Beyond Borders’ suffers from a disjointed pace. Instead of focusing on one exotic location, the film tries to squeeze three into its running time. The locales are beautifully shot, but the film would have benefitted by focusing on one. This pacing problem also forces the love story along, which leaves the audience little time to become invested in it.

The pieces are there, but ‘Beyond Borders’ fails to deliver the engrossing love story it promises or the realistic portrayal of relief disaster the subject deserves.

Christopher Reilly is a senior magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at cgreilly@syr.edu.

Published on October 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm