Cast: Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Jim Sheridan
Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin
Screenplay: Jim Sheridan & Naomi Sheridan & Kirsten Sheridan
Cinematography: Declan Quinn
Music: Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight
In America is a unique and moving look at the so-called "immigrant experience" that is as much about family dynamics as it is about the struggle to survive in an unfamiliar country. Directed, co-written, and co-produced by Jim Sheridan, who is best known for his Daniel Day-Lewis collaborations, My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, and The Boxer, In America represents a balanced portrait of the highs and lows of life for those who have ventured beyond familiar terrain in the search of something new.
Johnny and Sarah (Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton), along with their two young daughters, Christie (Sarah Bolger) and Ariel (Emma Bolger), have arrived in the United States from Ireland via Canada. They have left behind not only everything they knew, but raw memories of a son whose tragic death still haunts them. With all of their worldly possessions in a station wagon, they arrive at a dilapidated New York City apartment that they struggle to make into a home. It isn't easy - nor is getting money to pay the rent. Johnny finds that rejection is a way of life for a would-be actor. Sarah becomes the family breadwinner by working as a waitress at a local ice cream parlor. The unexpected friendship shown by the mysterious Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) represents a turning point in the family's attempts to cope with their new life and come to grips with the ghosts that still haunt them.
There are two key differences between In America and a "typical" film about immigrants living in America. In the first place, the setting is contemporary. Most movies contemplating this subject take us back to the early 1900s, when Ellis Island was brimming with optimistic newcomers. (It's worth noting that there isn't a single shot of the Statue of Liberty in In America, even though most of the film takes place not far away.) Secondly, the movie is not relentlessly depressing, as many immigrant stories are. Sheridan, who is known as a political filmmaker, does not advance a cause. Instead, he focuses on the push-pull forces that simultaneously bind Johnny and Sarah's family and threaten to tear them apart. In America is filled with small moments of tragedy and triumph - much as is the case in real life. Those in search of a depressing tale of crushed dreams will need to look elsewhere.
At least in part, the film's perspective is that of 11-year old Christie. The voiceover narrative, which is used sparingly, is hers, and the film occasionally employs images captured through a low-cost camcorder that is her constant companion. Christie's childlike innocence is important to the story's development. Her implicit faith in others allows her to approach Mateo without fear, rather than to cower away from him like the other inhabitants of the tenement.
The acting is uniformly superb. As the parents, Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton strike the right chords as a loving father and mother attempting to deal with their own grief while trying to shield their surviving children from the core of their pain and sporadic despair. The Bolger sisters, Sarah and Emma, are natural performers, capturing our sympathy from the beginning with their flawless, unaffected work. The film's most emotionally true moment occurs when Christie admits that no one seems to recognize she lost something precious when her brother died.
In many ways, it's a pleasure to encounter a motion picture about immigration that doesn't have an overt political agenda. While there's a place for that sort of movie, there's also a place for something like In America, which focuses on characters and their interaction, and doesn't leave the viewer floundering in a whirlpool of unrelieved depression. Sheridan's overall approach is cautiously optimistic, and, as a result, In America turns out to be uplifting, even though the sensitive viewer will find many opportunities to shed tears.
© 2003 James Berardinelli