Most Texans know about the hot-button issue of illegal immigration because of the state’s hundreds of miles of shared border with Mexico.

But even those with a vested interest in the issue might be surprised at what’s brought to light in Frozen River, a dramatic story based on real accounts of immigrant smuggling across the Canadian border in upstate New York.

Specifically, the film takes place on the Mohawk reservation, which straddles both New York and Quebec along the St. Lawrence River, where immigration laws are fuzzy and enforcement in conjunction with American authorities is lax.

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Misty Upham, left, and Melissa Leo are shown in a scene from Frozen River, a dramatic story based on real accounts of immigrant smuggling across the Canadian border in upstate New York. The film is now playing at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas and is expected to expand to more theaters in the coming weeks.

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The issue attracted the attention of filmmaker Courtney Hunt more than a decade ago, and she has been developing it as a cinematic idea ever since. She originally made a short film in 2004 and eventually secured enough financing to turn it into a feature.

The immigration issue provides the backdrop for the character-based story of Ray (Melissa Leo), a struggling single mother living just outside the reservation who can’t hold down a job long enough to finance a house and support her two sons.

Out of desperation, Ray reluctantly teams up with Lila (Misty Upham), a Mohawk smuggler who regularly embarks in the dangerous practice of driving immigrants at night across the frozen river in the trunk of her car. Ray tries to elude capture while raising enough cash for her family’s new doublewide trailer.

“Looking closer at it, I realized that women often were involved in the smuggling, and I thought that was interesting,” Hunt said by phone. “As I got to know a lot of the people up there, I realized that the scenario of a single mother doing this was very plausible. The kind of people who were doing this were desperate enough to take some risk, and the other options open to them were limited.”

Hunt said she spent more than eight years visiting the Mohawk reservation on and off, researching the topic and meeting those involved in order to develop believable characters.

“There were very different points of view within the reservation, with the white culture and the Mohawk culture living side by side and knowing very little about each other,” Hunt said. “After [Sept. 11], I had become aware that they were smuggling more illegal immigrants across the border, and the stakes were much higher.”

Despite its topicality and proximity to New York City, where the Sept. 11 attacks were more prominent, immigrant smuggling in Canada generally doesn’t receive the attention that it does across the Mexican border. But Hunt said authorities along the St. Lawrence recently have started to cooperate more in an effort to tighten border security.

Still, Hunt said she didn’t set out to make a heavy-handed political film with Frozen River, instead aiming to explore the complexities of the immigration issue from both sides. On one hand, there’s the need to provide secure borders.

But she also offers sympathy to the plight of Ray, a woman who’s fallen on hard times and turns to smuggling just to survive.

“I didn’t go into this to make an issue movie. I went into this telling a story,” Hunt said. “The story just happens to run along the edge of a lot of issues, but they’re coming out of the reality of people who live up there. I think that there are lots of points of view about immigration and smuggling.”

Hunt assembled a cast that includes acclaimed character actor Leo (21 Grams), who also starred in Hunt’s short film, as well as a host of acting newcomers in many of the supporting roles.

The low-budget film was shot mostly at night in 24 days along Lake Champlain, on the border between New York and Vermont about 80 miles from where the film’s story takes place. The weather conditions often were harsh, with the snow and bitter cold providing a mixed blessing.

“We wanted that ice to stay frozen on the lake, so Melissa could drive on it,” Hunt said. “It was miserable to work in but it was safer in a way. It was a grueling shoot.”

Frozen River is now playing at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas, and is expected to expand to more theaters in the coming weeks.

TODD JORGENSON can be reached at 940-566-6871. His e-mail address is tjorgenson@dentonrc.com.