'The Absence of Eden': Zoe Saldaña was 'deeply moved' and 'incredibly uncomfortable' in film on migrants crossing U.S.-Mexico border

Zoe Saldaña collaborated with her husband, Marco Perego, for his directorial debut, The Absence of Eden (now in theatres), also starring Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona, with Martin Scorsese as an executive producer. The film is a raw and emotional look at the terrifying reality of migrants crossing into the U.S. from the country's southern border.

While this is Perego's first time directing and writing a film, looking at these themes and this topic is not new for him. In 2016, Perego created a sculpture honouring children who lost their lives as migrants travelling from Syria to Italy. It involved him collecting more than 714 pairs of children's shoes and filling them with concrete. From there, Perego looked to filmmaking to tell the story of migrants in a different art form.

"I really believe cinema can change people's lives, one lens at a time," Perego told Yahoo.

Saldaña plays Esmee, who works as a private dancer in Mexico. When she kills a client, a drug cartel member who tried to rape her at the club where she works, she has to flee. Connecting with a coyote to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, Esmee meets a woman travelling with her young daughter. When the mother and daughter are separated, Esmee takes care of this young girl for the remainder of the dangerous journey.

Simultaneously, Absence of Eden introduces us to Shipp (Hedlund), who works as an ICE agent with his harsh colleague Dobbins (Chris Coy). When Shipp meets Yadira (Arjona) and their romance evolves, Shipp finds out his girlfriend is an undocumented immigrant herself, leaving Shipp particularly conflicted personally, and professionally.

Eventually, Shipp's story intersects with Esmee's, when Shipp has to investigate operations at a motel where Esmee works.

'I felt deeply moved, incredibly uncomfortable'

Perego's expression as a true artist is particularly evident in the way he crafted the dialogue in Absence of Eden. Scenes throughout the movie aren't written in a particularly conventional way, they feel rhythmically like poetry, which is especially true for Saldaña's character.

"I really want to make normal people ... talk with poems," Perego said. "I really love this idea, this concept, and the idea was to try to really elevate, through poetry, the sorrow of these people."

Saldaña added that Perego's writing, for her, is an example of art that challenges her to "think beyond and feel beyond [her] comfort zones."

"I felt deeply moved, incredibly uncomfortable, very heavy, spiritually and psychologically," she said.

"If you're a woman who's trying to survive situations that are harming your life and you think that you have no other choice but to cross a border, and maybe die along the way, people go through that. People live through uncomfortable situations and are compelled to make drastic decisions."

The actor added that as she embarked on this journey of portraying Esmee and doing research, it opened up something within herself personally.

"I'm a daughter of immigrants, so it's not like I don't know anything about immigration," she said. "I realized that what I wanted to take away from it, personally, and I would like for others as well, is to not forget this is about humanity."

"It's about people that we're talking about, not just immigrants or illegals, ... these are children and women, and elderly people and sons, disabled people, that are putting their lives at risks. The least we can do is humanize a complex situation."

Hedlund stressed, in a separate interview, that a film like Absence of Eden has the ability to expose people to situations that they're maybe not particularly familiar with.

"It certainly did for me," Hedlund said. "When I was growing up in northern Minnesota, way out on the farm, films like this give you a day in the life of something extremely unfamiliar."

"Perhaps if it's done something or if it's moved you, it's offered you compassion that wasn't there two hours ago. It's offered you an education, which wasn't there two hours ago, or a little bit of information. Or maybe just a little bit of relatability for those that have had to endure it."

Saldaña added that she was also particularly moved by Hedlund's character, playing someone who grew up in a dysfunctional environment, but is now a man in a position with significant power.

"Even though he has to follow through on his duty, he's always reluctant because it goes against his core values, but he doesn't know how to voice them," she said. "He doesn't know how to connect to them. He doesn't know how to stand up for them. He just feels them."

"Honestly, my compassion doesn't only go to the people that are trying to seek safe harbour or seeking political asylum, ... it's also the people in powerful positions that are being delegated these tasks. To be judges on who gets to come in and who gets to stay out there. I also feel for them if they are human beings that are struggling with what they're having to do."

For Hedlund, he highlighted that his character hasn't been "dealt the best cards" in life, which puts him in a position to try to make sense of what family really means, as an adult.

"He's got to act on certain things because he chose a profession that declares duty first, and then consequentially he's dealing with immense guilt," Hedlund said. "And then tomorrow comes and he's got to make those decisions all over again."

"There's people out there that put these boots and badges on every single day and have to do this, and you can't help but say, 'Sh-t, what would I do in this situation? Would I be able to muster the strength?'"

'Seeing a piece of reality that you're probably not given the proper coverage on'

Ultimately, it's a testament to art's ability to touch people and move people in a way that goes beyond the statistics and headlines we see in a 24-hour news cycle.

"We don't want to sway a vote, we don't want to make more money, we just want people to see us," Saldaña said. "And sometimes, seeing our art, you're seeing a piece of reality that you're probably not given the proper coverage on."

"I am really grateful Zoe, Garrett and Adria were able ... to find this purity and the honest truth about that story," Perego added.

For Hedlund, he described Perego as someone who "appreciates all the beautiful imperfections of life," which makes him a particularly appealing director to work with.

"It's very infectious. He's very sensitive. He's very vulnerable. He's very open. Very quiet, but when he gets excited can be very childlike. That's refreshing," Hedlund said.

"He's a poet, a sculptor, and the auteur. The whole crew and the whole cast just want to do something beautiful for him. That's an incredible quality to have as a director."