Dreaming of freedom and white picket fences in the US, West Bank transplants, Muna (Nisreen Faour), and her son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), instead get racist slurs and White Castle. Despite being overqualified with previous experience as a banker, Muna must work at the restaurant chain to make ends meet while Fadi struggles with bigotry and culture shock in school. Set in the days following September 11th, Amreeka (the Arabic word for “America”) details the backlash against innocent, unsuspecting minorities who many labeled as terrorists. Cherien Dabis’ feature film debut is smart and enticing (a sign outside White Castle meant to spell “Support Our Troops” drops the “tr” to display a clever preternatural clairvoyance) and creates a lively debate on immigration and discrimination. Ending with a symbolic dance between two nationalities, Dabis recognizes that while people may be bombarded with the empty promises of the Internet age, the real American Dream exists in small pockets of a community where a Palestinian and a Polish Jew can dance side by side. (Liesl Swanbeck)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment