Directed by Elia Kazan
10/10
This is a truly great film. Using no stars, Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden) tells the story of his ancestors’ hard lives in what’s now central Turkey ca 1900. Greeks and Armenians, both Christian, live as oppressed minorities under Ottoman/Islamic governance, which includes intermittent massacres, especially on the Armenians.
After one such massacre, a Greek family entrusts a young son with a considerable portion of its collective wealth – not a large sum – and sends him to Constantinople to become established in a trade and in time bring the family out of the impoverished and parlous region. His journey is difficult and dangerous. He winds up in Constantinople robbed, used, penniless, and humiliated. Desperate not to fail his family, he works hard as laborer, rug salesman, and lady’s man, but he deviates from his family’s instructions. He wants to go to America – a country that takes on idealized attractions of abundance, opportunity, and freedom.
After more hard work, he gets there. And in time, he brings his family over.
Filmed in Turkey and Greece, America, America has stunning cinematography by Haskell Wexler. There are extraordinary scenes of village life in the rugged interior and the streets and fashionable parts of Constantinople. There are two remarkable scenes aboard ship. The immigrants are elated when they see the lights along the coast of Long Island and in silent awe as they enter New York harbor and see the Statue of Liberty.
© 2020 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs.