The Law of the Frontier

The Law of the Frontier (La ley de la frontera) is a 1995 Argentine-Spanish adventure film directed by Adolfo Aristarain. It stars Pere Ponce, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Achero Mañas, and Federico Luppi.

Plot
Set around 1925, in the Galician-Portuguese border, the plot follows the adventures of Galician working-class deserter Xan, Portuguese upper-class renegade seminarist Joao, The New York Times journalist Bárbara, and bandit "El Argentino".

Production
The film is a Spanish-Argentine co-production by Central de Producciones Audiovisuales and Shazam, with the collaboration of Adai Filmes, TVE, Canal+, and Producciones Palermo.

Release
Distributed by United International Pictures, it was released theatrically in Spain on 23 August 1995.

Reception
Jonathan Holland of Variety described the film as "a bighearted, fast-paced '20s adventure story of multiple pursuits and disguises, deploying all the usual ingredients".

José Luis Sánchez Noriega mentioned the presence of dubious dialogue, multiple anachronisms and the lack of a Portuguese and Galician accent on the part of the characters of, respectively, Joao and Xan, unlike El Argentino's Argentinian accent, while conceding that, as an adventure, the film is still "entertaining".

Accolades

 * rowspan = "2" | 1996 || rowspan = "2" | 10th Goya Awards || Best Supporting Actor || Federico Luppi || Nominated || rowspan = "2" |
 * Best Costume Design || María José Iglesias || Nominated
 * }
 * Best Costume Design || María José Iglesias || Nominated
 * }