Monday, May 3, 2010

The New World

Nuovomondo/Golden Door (2006) - Crialese
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The Mancusos, a poor farmers from rural Sicily in the turn of the century decides to move to the new world, America, where the money trees grow, produces that grow as big as houses and milk rivers flow. They leave everything behind to make the arduous journey in steerage to the new world. Salvatore, the mustachioed oldest son is smitten by a well-dressed, mysterious redhead English woman Lucy(Charlotte Gainsbourg). Rumors fly among fellow voyagers- Lucy is a princess abandoned by her lover...

The Ellis Island procedural has rarely been portrayed in detail like this on film before- grueling physical exams, absurd psychological test, etc. A defiant Fortunado, the matriarch of the Mancusos shouts back in her heavy sicilian dialect "Who do you think you are, God? Judging me if I'm fit to enter the new world?" when asked to do a wooden block aptitude test.

Agnes Gordard's cinematography creates a dream-like atmosphere and the film has just enough whimsy but never delves into saccharin. A good movie with a gentle heart.