The immigrant experience is a double-edged sword. The expectation that change will automatically lead to a better life when met with reality, is often a short sharp blow. The politics of human movement from developing to developed countries plays out in the public arena, but the narratives of the individuals attempting to find safer places to live do not. Amreeka is about leaving behind all that is familiar and trying to embrace a new country. Questioning whether it is better to be a visitor in someone else’s country than a prisoner in your own.
Set during America’s (and its allies) invasion of Iraq in 2003, Amreeka follows Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teenage son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) as they travel from the West Bank to Illinois. You know from their first encounter with America, at arrival Customs, things just aren’t going to go smoothly for the sweetly optimistic mother and son pairing. The pair settle in with Muna sister’s family, Raghda (Hiam Abbass), Nabeel (Yusseff Abu-Warda) and their three daughters. The unsuspecting Muna and Fadi, who believe they have left their troubles behind in the Palestinian Territories, are confronted by an America full of distrust and ignorant of Middle Eastern politics and culture.
Making her feature film writing and directing debut, Cherien Dabis has used her family’s experiences of hostility during the Gulf War as Palestinian/Jordanian Americans as inspiration for Amreeka (the Arabic name for America). She focuses on the trials and tribulations of the main characters’ attempts to adjust to the modern version of the American Dream and their attempts not to appear as F.O.Bs (fresh off the boaters). Beautifully realised, Amreeka is far from a solemn film, mixing bitter and sweet with pleasing results.
Filmed using hand-held cameras, Amreeka has, at times, documentary sensibilities, with the director embracing a verité style and promoting improvisation amongst her cast. This style works especially well in the sections filmed in Ramallah, emphasising the uncertainty of daily encounters between Palestinians and Israelis.
‘If we were ever depicted in Hollywood Films, we were always terrorists. We were always the bad guys. I didn’t see any portrayal of Arabs as regular people, as human” Director Cherien Dabis on her reasons for creating an Arab American coming-to America Story
The performances are excellent. Nisreen Faour plays Muna with nice touches of naivety and positivity, showing a woman who is stronger than she believes. Melkar Muallem as Fadi and Alia Shawkat as his cousin, Salma, do a nice job of teenage angst. highlighting the desperation to be both an individual and part of a group. As always Hiam Abbass (of The Visitor and Lemon Tree fame) is fascinating to watch, playing the Diasporan Palestinian, Raghda, who has lived in the US for 15 years constantly craving small comforts from home.
But what of this Palestinian homeland; can you have a film that deals with Palestinians and it not have a solely political message? Dabis’ work certainly criss-crosses political ground, but her main concern is the notion of identity; being a Middle Eastern foreigner in post 9/11 America, where Arabs are seen as a homogenous group. Impossible to ignore, she has made some directly political points in Amreeka, some hit their intended mark, some feel too laboured.
Without a doubt Amreeka is an impressive debut from a talented filmmaker. Full of hope and disappointment, the film gives an insight into the personal realities of being a visitor in someone else’s country. The film portrays a raw honesty to the outsider’s experience, making Amreeka rewarding cinema viewing. A mixture of comedy and tragedy, humour wins out in the end, embracing the notion that if you didn’t laugh you’d have to cry.
Australian Release Date: 19th November
Director Cherien Dabis
Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar, Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussef Abu-Warda, Alia Shawkat, Joseph Ziegler, Brodie Sanderson
Giveaway
To WIN one of ten passes to advanced screenings of Amreeka, 13-15th November (showing in selected cinemas in NSW, VIC, QLD and SA) simply email your name and address with the answer to this simple question- Amreeka is the Arabic name for what? (hint the answer is in the review and bloody obvious) to olivia@trespassmag.com
