Punto y Raya (2004)

Cheito, a Venezuelan, and Pedro, a Columbian, meet at the border between their two countries at a time of heightened nationalisms. They are recruits into the army doing their obligatory time. Cheito is an unwilling participant and is only interested in defection, while Pedro has actually volunteered for duty to defend the honor of his country. The human geography of the border is rough and adverse and their only possibility for surviving is to work together. They struggle to form a friendship and once they do it is only the confrontations that survive.

Another successful film from the partnership between director and producer Elia Schneider and José Novoa, who switch off directing and producing films. Scheider has directed several other features, including Huelepega in 1999. Novoa's credits also include the well-known Sicario in 1994. This is Venezuela's official entry for the foreign Oscar competition.

Director Elia Schneider works brilliantly with a script by Henry Herrera to produce a dark comedy that captures the absurdity of war. It is an action film bringing together the myriad of factions fighting in this contested territory: the drug cartels, the military armies and the paramilitaries. In the middle are the innocent by-standers, a formidable jungle terrain and these two would be soldiers.