Immigration has played a major role in the development of our country. Amreeka (Arabic for America) tells the story of a single mother and her teenage son who immigrate from the West Bank to America with hopes of starting a new life.
Amreeka is written and directed by Cherien Dabis, her feature film debut, and is based loosely on her own family experiences. Dabis, whose family immigrated from Jordan, was selected by Variety as one of “Ten Directors to Watch” in 2009.
Muna Farah’s (Nisreen Faour) life is not much different than that of many Americans. She is divorced and raising her son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) by herself. Muna is taking care of her elderly mother and she is working an unfulfilling job at a bank.
Muna use to only need 15 minutes to get to work, but now it takes her over 2 hours because of the political unrest between Palestinians and Israelis. A wall is being built to separate the two groups, so Muna must drive around it through military check-post where she is often harassed by soldiers.
Then one day Muna receives a letter stating that a long-forgotten visa application to come to America has finally been approved. Muna and Fadi see this as their chance at having a better life.
Shortly after arriving in America, Muna and Fadi begin to learn that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Living with her sister Raghda (Hiam Abbass, The Visitor) and her husband Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda) in Illinois, Muna discovers they are having financial and martial problems. Their oldest daughter Salma (Alia Shawkat, TV’s Arrested Development) is acting more like a rebellious American teenager than a traditional Palestinian.
Even though Muna is educated and has 10 years experience working in a bank, the only job she can find is working fast-food at White Castle. Fadi is having his own problems at school with a group of racists boys. As he begins to adopt more of Salma’s attitude, Fadi begins to get into trouble both at school and out of school which causes Muna more grief.
Dabis does a wonderful job at providing us with a glimpse of what daily life is like in the Middle East. While many people think that Arabs just sit around all day building bombs and hatching terrorist plots, Amreeka shows us that they face many of the same problems that we do. I found this to be refreshing and fascinating.
Muna is a great character. Her determination to make a better life for herself and her son draws you in and makes you cheer for her. She is a perfect tool to use to break down stereotypes of people from the Middle East. Nisreen Faour, a veteran theater actress, is excellent in her portrayal of Muna. She conveys emotions very skillfully.
In his feature film debut, Melkar Muallem gives a fine performance as a young person trying to fit into a culture that is totally different from his own.
Like Japanese and Germans during World War II and Russians during the Cold War, people from the Middle East are characterized as all being terrorists out to get America. While there are many that may feel this way, people should remember that the actions of some should not cloud their judgement about an entire group of people.
Amreeka, a Cannes award winner and a Sundance award nominee, is very successful in broading a person’s perspective about people from the Middle East and should be viewed by anyone looking to get a more complete picture of daily life in the Arab world.
Amreeka is now available on DVD. Click on the movie screen below to view its trailer.
