Something sinister is going on in the rooms of one of London’s most luxurious hotels. A dark mystery swirls around the heartbreaking center of this 2003 film by director Stephen Frears. Okwe (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, of “12 Years a Slave”), was a doctor in Nigeria, but in England he is a taxi driver and a hotel porter, chewing on herbal drugs to keep from falling asleep. His relationship with immigrant Senay (Audrey Tautou), who fled from an arranged marriage in Turkey, is tender and doomed. This story features some zany characters — most of them bound by their illegal status — and the basements and back rooms where they are forced to survive.
This 2009 film captured the hearts of the indie crowd who chanced to see it. Muna (Nisreen Faour) is a randy Palestinian banker living in the West Bank who wins, through the lottery, a green card to live in America (or, “Amreeka”, as is the Arabic word). Tired of living under the Israeli occupation, Muna collects her teenage son Fadi and moves to Illinois to connect with her sister’s family. A comedy with a raw heart, it’s set in 2003, post-9/11. The Iraqi War-era America is not too kind to Arabs, and the escalation of racism affects Muna and her family. Go visit Muna at her new job as a White Castle employee and see this little gem.
In the tradition of Italian neorealism comes this uncompromising depiction of a fallen star’s descent into the nightmare that can be the American Dream. From Pakistan to Midtown Manhattan comes Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a successful rock star in his home country but an invisible man in New York City who sells bagels and coffee off one of those carts. A Sundance Film Festival sensation, it’s not an easy film to watch. Ahmad gets up in the early morning cold to work a fruitless job. He’s discriminated against, but never loses hope. Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani took a page from Albert Camus’s “Myth of Sisypus” and shows us a man rolling a stone (pushing a cart) up and down.
The 25,000-plus Lost Boys of Sudan who have for decades been fleeing the civil wars that plagued their country are only a fraction of its displaced population. In this moving documentary, we follow John, Daniel and Panther — three men from South Sudan adjusting to immigration, employment, bigotry, and assimilation in their new lives in New York City. All are heartbroken and damaged from leaving behind loved ones in Africa. Winner of the 2006 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, this documentary is narrated by Nicole Kidman.
Let’s take a break from sad and travel back to the time (1988) when Prince Akeem Joffer of the fictitious African nation of Zamunda got tired of the whole arranged marriage-pampered royal lifestyle crap and went to New York to find his queen in, well, Queens! Eddie Murphy showed he could play more than one character to comedic perfection — especially the transvestite at the bar (“I wanna tear you apart…and your friend too!”). Eddie Murphy and his servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall) are child-like enough to be able to deal with the hardships of immigrant life.
One of the most moving films I’ve ever seen, I like to presume this movie is an accurate depiction of modern-day immigrants enduring the joys and pains of settling into a new life in America. Irish crossovers Johnny and Sarah (the incredible Paddy Considine and one of the greatest living actresses, Samantha Morton) are young parents of two plucky girls, Cristy and Ariel (Emma and Sarah Bolger, real-life sisters). They carry their emotional baggage through the door of the Land of Promise. There’s a young son who died, and they need to know if they’re running from, or running to. Seeing the film through the eyes of these two little girls is remarkable, as is the family’s relationship with the AIDS-afflicted African neighbor, Mateo, (Djimon Hounsou) — one of the film’s many story lines.
Yes, the spelling is correct, because it’s about a mouse. I’m talkin’ about Fievel, people — that little Russian animated rodent who sailed his ship into our hearts. “Somewhere out There” is an America with more hardships than most viewers can fathom. When the Mousekowitz family home is burned down by the Czar’s troops, they journey across the Atlantic and Fievel gets separated from his family members. The Mousekowitz experience has been likened to a Russian-Jewish immigrant experience. Take a look at this Chicago Sun-Times article.
Gregory Nava is of Mexican and Basque heritage, and his films shed vital light on the experience of Latin American people who attempt to go north to the U.S. This early work received the first ever Best Screenplay Oscar nomination for an independent film (1983). “El Norte” (“the north” follows Guatemalan siblings Enrique and Rosa as they cross Mexico into California, where they struggle as illegal aliens to find that promised gold. It’s a heart-wrenching film.
Richard Jenkins of “Six Feet Under” plays a quiet and concerned American citizen who sees the true workings of the “system” and how immigrants are treated, especially in post-9/11 U.S.A. When Prof. Walter Vale returns to his Manhattan apartment after being away for a while, he finds two “visitors” who rented his place from a crooked landlord. This is Walter’s riveting journey, sheltering illegals in an unfriendly land.
Did you think I’d leave out the most timeless movie about foreigners laying down their roots on America’s golden shores? The Corleone Family has and, in my mind, actually will continue to spawn generations of determined, intelligent, passionate, and sometimes violent Italian-Americans. We’ve watched young Don escape brutal crime in Sicily, arrive as a timid nobody on Ellis Island, and immerse himself in owning the streets of New York. We’ve seen his kids, especially that enigmatic Michael, rip their souls apart to preserve a family’s legacy. The first two Godfather films are the best. The third one…take it or leave it. Thank you, Francis Ford.
