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Review: Amreeka (2009)
This movie was pretty good. It felt very down to earth, and showed both the bleak and optimistic sides of moving to a new country. I'd definitely recommend it as a drama film focusing on Middle Eastern immigrants in America post 9/11, but with a more grounded focus.
Spoilers.
Story
Muna and her son Fadi immigrated from Palestine to the US after getting green cards. However, their journey started with a stumblr, after all of Muna's life savings were in a box of cookies taken away by US customs.
Muna struggled with finding a job matching her qualifications, but could only find a job at White Castle. As for Fadi, he struggled with racism coming from the bullies at his high school. Muna was staying with her sister Raghda, and Raghda and her husband Nabeel were also running into problems because Nabeel's medical practice was losing patients and they had differing opinions on how to approach the matter.
By the end of the film, technically none of these issues were solved. Muna was still working at White Castle, Fadi was probably still going to be bullied, and Nabeel's practice wasn't gaining patients anytime soon. However, the way it ended was for the family was to come clean with their secrets, and to enjoy what they did have with each other. They were still going to struggle in their day to day life, but they would do their best to rely on each other.
Production
As I mentioned, the movie felt pretty down to earth. It didn't feel glamourized or exaggerated at any point. This extended to both the writing and the production. The acting was pretty good as well. No complaints at all from me.
Characters
Muna
Muna was initially hesitant about immigrating to the States. However, the checkpoints were becoming a bigger and bigger hassle, and Fadi was enthusiastic about leaving as well.
At first glance, most Americans might have considered Muna to be clumsy or clueless, but with the insight into her family life, it was easy to see that she was resilient in her own way. Hiding all of her life savings in a box of cookies was not a smart move, and she thought that finding a job would be easier than it actually was, but she had her own ways of coping. She didn't just sit and do nothing because she had to provide for her son and to give back to Raghda and Nabeel for helping her. She was ashamed of working at White Castle, but her secret was revealed by the end, and she realized that it wasn't such a big deal that she worked there, because what was important was that she was doing what she needed to do to get by.
I think that by the end of the movie, Muna was learning to be more comfortable with the American lifestyle, including making new friends, and getting used to the unfortunate political climate. Though she'd never be rid of immature teenagers, she was happier with herself, no longer having to hide her job from her family (who did not look down at her at all), and she had a support system of Mr. Novatski and Matt.
Perhaps Muna may want to go back to her former occupation of working at a bank in the future. She was definitely far more prepared to do so by the end of the movie, being more comfortable with American culture. For most of the movie, she had her "customer service" persona on when speaking to anybody in English, and she was able to shrug off the unnatural tone after being more comfortable with her surroundings.
Fadi
Fadi was dealing with a whole other set of problems. Fadi was young so he didn't have the problem solving skills and confidence that an adult would have, and he was also dealing with bullies who notoriously do not function on logic.
Over the course of the movie, we saw how Fadi became more and more angry with the bullies. At first, it drove him away from his mother, because he felt that his mother didn't understand why he couldn't just "ignore" the bullies. But when his mother was hurt by a racist attack, Fadi was driven to do something extreme out of anger.
While Fadi's anger was understandable, his mother did not want him ending up in prison. Unfortunately, I foresee that Fadi would likely continue to undergo racism at his high school. It's down to a balance of Fadi's family supporting him and acknowledging his hurt, and authorities like Mr. Novatski understanding when to intervene before a situation escalates.
Raghda
Raghda was Muna's sister, and she'd been in the States for 15 years. She seemed to view Palestine with rose-tinted lenses. This was likely because she'd become jaded after being on the receiving end of racism in the States for 15 years. Raghda would rather undergo the rising tension in Palestine than to be an outsider like she'd always be in the States.
Raghda and her husband Nabeel were at odds over how to handle the racism that was threatening both Nabeel's career and their livelihoods. Raghda didn't approve of Nabeel's more defensive attitudes, but she didn't have any good ideas either. She kept wishing she'd left the States long ago, but obviously that isn't a realistic option with how their children consider themselves American.
Nabeel
Nabeel was Raghda's husband, a doctor, and his practice was bleeding patients because of the growing tensions between the US and the Middle East. Nabeel had wanted to hang an American flag on their house to fit in with the neighbours, but Raghda was against it. With the death threat dropped in their mailbox, Raghda had wanted Nabeel to get a gun, but Nabeel compromised and got a baseball bat instead.
I saw Nabeel as being a little more practical, as he knew they weren't realistically going to leave the States. He was fine with acting differently in public if just to get the family a peace of mind, which is typically the immigrant mindset.
Salma
Salma was Nabeel and Raghda's oldest daughter. She considered herself fully American, and we could see that she acted like a typical American teenager, getting in trouble with the usual stuff like sneaking out at night.
Like a typical diaspora kid, Salma was also opinionated on the political situation of the place of her ethnic heritage, namely the Middle East. She saw terrorism as a reaction to injustices against the people, but as we saw in class, nobody would agree with her because most people probably didn't care.
Mr. Novatski
Mr. Novatski was the school principal, with whom Muna struck up a friendship. We saw that he was sympathetic to Muna and Fadi. He was probably lonely himself, being divorced, so the extra company was nice, even if just platonic. He fortunately had credibility around town as the principal, and so he was able to bail Fadi out when he was being investigated by the police.
I think people like Mr. Novatski go a long way in helping out immigrants. He had credibility with the local authorities as a principal, and he also sympathized with those in a place of need.
Themes
Relationship with home country
We saw this theme explored with many of the characters in the movie. Most of them had slightly different takes, and they are all valid.
Muna was relieved to be out of Palestine because of the growing hostility. She was worried for her son, and she acknowledged Fadi's concerns about whether there was a future in Palestine that was worth in living in for him. She was thankful that the States didn't have the problems that Palestine had (i.e. threat of war).
Raghda had an idealized view of Palestine because she was homesick. She was tired of always being discriminated against. For her, she wanted to live in Palestine because it didn't have the problems that the States had (i.e. racism and discrimination). An opposite but equally valid point of view from Muna. However, Ragdha was more aggressive when it came to dealing with the racism. She wanted Nabeel to get a gun, which he refused to do. She was deathly afraid for her family.
Nabeel recognized that both the States and Palestine had their problems. He was always tuned to the Arabic news channels to check on the newest updates of the political situation. I think seeing the violence was one of the reasons that Nabeel was so against escalating the violence in his own home (e.g. opting for the baseball bat instead of a gun, hanging an American flag to appease neighbours). In addition, Nabeel had his practice to think about, and he wanted to manage his PR carefully. It didn't seem that Raghda was working, so I wouldn't be surprised if she as a bit out of touch with doctor-patient relationships, whereas Nabeel still had that personal interaction with his patients, and knew that he needed to tread the topic lightly if he wanted his practice to stay afloat.
As for Salma, she considered herself American, but she would always have that connection with Palestine. However, her take was not as nuanced as those of the adults, because she was a bit removed from the situation. Like many diaspora kids, she was very defensive against the land of her heritage, and had no choice but to become aggressively defensive of them when attacked by people like her classmates, who either riled her up for the fun of it, or truly had only black and white takes. So on the surface, Salma appeared aggressive because she was backed in a corner. In truth, I wouldn't be surprised if Salma didn't have a particularly strong take on either side. After all, she's truly split between two cultures, and thus she sees both the good and bad sides of each. It's likely hard for her to choose, but when she's attacked (by either her American classmates or her Palestinian mother), her instinct is to defend.
All of these are valid takes to have for immigrants, and I liked that each of the characters had nuanced takes on the matter.
Career
Many immigrants unfortunately have to start their careers over when they move, as their qualifications either don't cross over, or just plain xenophobia. For Muna, initially she wasn't familiar with how to search for jobs, and it was a struggle to fall into the rhythm of it.
The issue for Muna was that she had no savings and needed money as soon as possible to provide for her son and to help her sister's family who'd been helping her out. And like most immigrants, she had to take the only jobs that would hire her, which in this case, was at White Castle.
Some immigrants are able to regain their old qualifications. One such example is my dad, who after working at a few restaurants, retook his exams and went back to being an engineer. Some embark on new careers entirely, such as the many Chinese immigrants who open Chinese restaurants. And some continue working for jobs they are overqualified for. I remember being surprised when finding out that a janitor at my high school had a master's degree in engineering.
People branch out in all sorts of directions, but the fact remains that it's a struggle for many immigrants to take a job they are severely overqualified for. Many people who are ignorant, may see it as immigrants being lazy, instead of recognizing that the system discredits immigrants.
Radicalization
It was easy to see that Fadi was becoming and increasingly angry teenager. People were always making jokes about him blowing the place up (referencing suicide bombing), and nobody would ever see him for who he was, only by what he looked like.
It was easy to see how somebody in Fadi's position could become radicalized. If Fadi was just living with his mother, I could see how this could happen, as Muna would be too busy supporting her son as a single mom to see how Fadi was struggling in his social situation. But at least Fadi had Salma who tried to keep him grounded. She was more well-versed in dealing with the bullies, though she too was a teenager who had her lapses in judgment. But at the very least, Fadi knew that Muna had his back.
Overall
Sorry, my review was kind of all over the place today. But this was a good movie. I always appreciate movies that talk about the immigrant experience, and this was another one that covered the specific experience of Middle Eastern immigrants in America post 9/11.
Spoilers.
Story
Muna and her son Fadi immigrated from Palestine to the US after getting green cards. However, their journey started with a stumblr, after all of Muna's life savings were in a box of cookies taken away by US customs.
Muna struggled with finding a job matching her qualifications, but could only find a job at White Castle. As for Fadi, he struggled with racism coming from the bullies at his high school. Muna was staying with her sister Raghda, and Raghda and her husband Nabeel were also running into problems because Nabeel's medical practice was losing patients and they had differing opinions on how to approach the matter.
By the end of the film, technically none of these issues were solved. Muna was still working at White Castle, Fadi was probably still going to be bullied, and Nabeel's practice wasn't gaining patients anytime soon. However, the way it ended was for the family was to come clean with their secrets, and to enjoy what they did have with each other. They were still going to struggle in their day to day life, but they would do their best to rely on each other.
Production
As I mentioned, the movie felt pretty down to earth. It didn't feel glamourized or exaggerated at any point. This extended to both the writing and the production. The acting was pretty good as well. No complaints at all from me.
Characters
Muna
Muna was initially hesitant about immigrating to the States. However, the checkpoints were becoming a bigger and bigger hassle, and Fadi was enthusiastic about leaving as well.
At first glance, most Americans might have considered Muna to be clumsy or clueless, but with the insight into her family life, it was easy to see that she was resilient in her own way. Hiding all of her life savings in a box of cookies was not a smart move, and she thought that finding a job would be easier than it actually was, but she had her own ways of coping. She didn't just sit and do nothing because she had to provide for her son and to give back to Raghda and Nabeel for helping her. She was ashamed of working at White Castle, but her secret was revealed by the end, and she realized that it wasn't such a big deal that she worked there, because what was important was that she was doing what she needed to do to get by.
I think that by the end of the movie, Muna was learning to be more comfortable with the American lifestyle, including making new friends, and getting used to the unfortunate political climate. Though she'd never be rid of immature teenagers, she was happier with herself, no longer having to hide her job from her family (who did not look down at her at all), and she had a support system of Mr. Novatski and Matt.
Perhaps Muna may want to go back to her former occupation of working at a bank in the future. She was definitely far more prepared to do so by the end of the movie, being more comfortable with American culture. For most of the movie, she had her "customer service" persona on when speaking to anybody in English, and she was able to shrug off the unnatural tone after being more comfortable with her surroundings.
Fadi
Fadi was dealing with a whole other set of problems. Fadi was young so he didn't have the problem solving skills and confidence that an adult would have, and he was also dealing with bullies who notoriously do not function on logic.
Over the course of the movie, we saw how Fadi became more and more angry with the bullies. At first, it drove him away from his mother, because he felt that his mother didn't understand why he couldn't just "ignore" the bullies. But when his mother was hurt by a racist attack, Fadi was driven to do something extreme out of anger.
While Fadi's anger was understandable, his mother did not want him ending up in prison. Unfortunately, I foresee that Fadi would likely continue to undergo racism at his high school. It's down to a balance of Fadi's family supporting him and acknowledging his hurt, and authorities like Mr. Novatski understanding when to intervene before a situation escalates.
Raghda
Raghda was Muna's sister, and she'd been in the States for 15 years. She seemed to view Palestine with rose-tinted lenses. This was likely because she'd become jaded after being on the receiving end of racism in the States for 15 years. Raghda would rather undergo the rising tension in Palestine than to be an outsider like she'd always be in the States.
Raghda and her husband Nabeel were at odds over how to handle the racism that was threatening both Nabeel's career and their livelihoods. Raghda didn't approve of Nabeel's more defensive attitudes, but she didn't have any good ideas either. She kept wishing she'd left the States long ago, but obviously that isn't a realistic option with how their children consider themselves American.
Nabeel
Nabeel was Raghda's husband, a doctor, and his practice was bleeding patients because of the growing tensions between the US and the Middle East. Nabeel had wanted to hang an American flag on their house to fit in with the neighbours, but Raghda was against it. With the death threat dropped in their mailbox, Raghda had wanted Nabeel to get a gun, but Nabeel compromised and got a baseball bat instead.
I saw Nabeel as being a little more practical, as he knew they weren't realistically going to leave the States. He was fine with acting differently in public if just to get the family a peace of mind, which is typically the immigrant mindset.
Salma
Salma was Nabeel and Raghda's oldest daughter. She considered herself fully American, and we could see that she acted like a typical American teenager, getting in trouble with the usual stuff like sneaking out at night.
Like a typical diaspora kid, Salma was also opinionated on the political situation of the place of her ethnic heritage, namely the Middle East. She saw terrorism as a reaction to injustices against the people, but as we saw in class, nobody would agree with her because most people probably didn't care.
Mr. Novatski
Mr. Novatski was the school principal, with whom Muna struck up a friendship. We saw that he was sympathetic to Muna and Fadi. He was probably lonely himself, being divorced, so the extra company was nice, even if just platonic. He fortunately had credibility around town as the principal, and so he was able to bail Fadi out when he was being investigated by the police.
I think people like Mr. Novatski go a long way in helping out immigrants. He had credibility with the local authorities as a principal, and he also sympathized with those in a place of need.
Themes
Relationship with home country
We saw this theme explored with many of the characters in the movie. Most of them had slightly different takes, and they are all valid.
Muna was relieved to be out of Palestine because of the growing hostility. She was worried for her son, and she acknowledged Fadi's concerns about whether there was a future in Palestine that was worth in living in for him. She was thankful that the States didn't have the problems that Palestine had (i.e. threat of war).
Raghda had an idealized view of Palestine because she was homesick. She was tired of always being discriminated against. For her, she wanted to live in Palestine because it didn't have the problems that the States had (i.e. racism and discrimination). An opposite but equally valid point of view from Muna. However, Ragdha was more aggressive when it came to dealing with the racism. She wanted Nabeel to get a gun, which he refused to do. She was deathly afraid for her family.
Nabeel recognized that both the States and Palestine had their problems. He was always tuned to the Arabic news channels to check on the newest updates of the political situation. I think seeing the violence was one of the reasons that Nabeel was so against escalating the violence in his own home (e.g. opting for the baseball bat instead of a gun, hanging an American flag to appease neighbours). In addition, Nabeel had his practice to think about, and he wanted to manage his PR carefully. It didn't seem that Raghda was working, so I wouldn't be surprised if she as a bit out of touch with doctor-patient relationships, whereas Nabeel still had that personal interaction with his patients, and knew that he needed to tread the topic lightly if he wanted his practice to stay afloat.
As for Salma, she considered herself American, but she would always have that connection with Palestine. However, her take was not as nuanced as those of the adults, because she was a bit removed from the situation. Like many diaspora kids, she was very defensive against the land of her heritage, and had no choice but to become aggressively defensive of them when attacked by people like her classmates, who either riled her up for the fun of it, or truly had only black and white takes. So on the surface, Salma appeared aggressive because she was backed in a corner. In truth, I wouldn't be surprised if Salma didn't have a particularly strong take on either side. After all, she's truly split between two cultures, and thus she sees both the good and bad sides of each. It's likely hard for her to choose, but when she's attacked (by either her American classmates or her Palestinian mother), her instinct is to defend.
All of these are valid takes to have for immigrants, and I liked that each of the characters had nuanced takes on the matter.
Career
Many immigrants unfortunately have to start their careers over when they move, as their qualifications either don't cross over, or just plain xenophobia. For Muna, initially she wasn't familiar with how to search for jobs, and it was a struggle to fall into the rhythm of it.
The issue for Muna was that she had no savings and needed money as soon as possible to provide for her son and to help her sister's family who'd been helping her out. And like most immigrants, she had to take the only jobs that would hire her, which in this case, was at White Castle.
Some immigrants are able to regain their old qualifications. One such example is my dad, who after working at a few restaurants, retook his exams and went back to being an engineer. Some embark on new careers entirely, such as the many Chinese immigrants who open Chinese restaurants. And some continue working for jobs they are overqualified for. I remember being surprised when finding out that a janitor at my high school had a master's degree in engineering.
People branch out in all sorts of directions, but the fact remains that it's a struggle for many immigrants to take a job they are severely overqualified for. Many people who are ignorant, may see it as immigrants being lazy, instead of recognizing that the system discredits immigrants.
Radicalization
It was easy to see that Fadi was becoming and increasingly angry teenager. People were always making jokes about him blowing the place up (referencing suicide bombing), and nobody would ever see him for who he was, only by what he looked like.
It was easy to see how somebody in Fadi's position could become radicalized. If Fadi was just living with his mother, I could see how this could happen, as Muna would be too busy supporting her son as a single mom to see how Fadi was struggling in his social situation. But at least Fadi had Salma who tried to keep him grounded. She was more well-versed in dealing with the bullies, though she too was a teenager who had her lapses in judgment. But at the very least, Fadi knew that Muna had his back.
Overall
Sorry, my review was kind of all over the place today. But this was a good movie. I always appreciate movies that talk about the immigrant experience, and this was another one that covered the specific experience of Middle Eastern immigrants in America post 9/11.