Anyone suggesting to a British broadcaster that they screen a drama about illegal migration two nights before the vote on whether the UK stays in the EU would have received a screech of expletives sprinkled with the words “Number 10” and “Ofcom.” But Channel 4 has cunningly snuck through the overgrowth of broadcasting rules a fascinating addition to the sterile debates and news bulletins of pre-referendum TV.
The Border is a six-part Polish drama about a squad that targets Ukrainian gangs trafficking Eastern European migrants into Poland. The first episode is on Channel 4 tonight, after which the entire series drops on All 4’s indispensably educative Walter Presents archive of foreign drama.
No network in the UK would have dared to make this show at this time, but The Border would pass British rules of impartiality and balance. Neither Remain nor Leave could screen it on their campaign buses without uncomfortable moments.
The drama doesn’t demonise or sanctify migrants, but focuses on the rivals fighting over them: the traders who see vulnerable humans as booty, and the unwilling host country for whom they are both a political problem and a propaganda opportunity. The plot initially invites sympathy for the state, when the anti-trafficking squad is devastated by a terrorist attack. But the situation swiftly becomes more complex, with what seemed to be a cop show morphing into a political thriller. In these plot thickenings, the show doesn’t flinch from tackling aspects of the Polish psyche, such as xenophobia and misogyny, that trouble outsiders.
The original Polish title translates as “The Pack”. After weeks of talk in Britain about movement of migrants through Europe, it’s understandable why Channel 4 opted for the more topical The Border, but something is lost in translation.
The script and shots are full of hunting metaphors: the woods through which the refugees rush are prowled by wolves, while dogs strain on leashes as border guards stalk the scent of refugee. The frontier patrols and the human traffickers are hounding each other and, eventually, each side has kills. And in another layer of pursuit, a State Prosecutor, suspicious of why border guard Wiktor Rebrow (Leszek Lichota) was the only survivor of the bombing, is tracking him.
I’m not familiar enough with Polish TV to know if the domestic audience would have seen echoes of shows like Survivors or reality-chase series like Survivor and Hunted, but UK viewers surely will – and they add to the drama. Impressively, two scenes that have become TV drama clichés – the identification of a corpse in a morgue, and a bereaved person stumbling on a souvenir of their lover – are given fresh emotional power by careful use of the personnel or props involved. Screen fiction from abroad also inevitably serves as a travelogue of sorts, and the cinematography captures the urban dirt, rural beauty and borderland wilderness of Poland.
Although probably too nuanced and niche to have much sway on Thursday’s vote, The Border is great drama that continues Walter Presents’ impressive campaign to push back the borders of broadcasting culture.
The first episode of The Border is on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm, then available in full on Walter Presents.
