Amreeka
2009 (USA)
Director: Cherien Dabis
Triteness wins out over heartfelt sentiment in Cherien Dabis’ take on the Immigrant Experience Film, Amreeka, a by-the-numbers celebration of tolerance, love, perseverance, etc., etc., etc. Here the immigrants in question are divorcee Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teen son Fadi (Melkar Muallem), Palestinians who journey to small-town Illinois where they settle in awkwardly with the Westernized family of Muna’s sister (Hiam Abbass, whom I adore… but Christ, can we give another Arabic actress a shot, please?). Amreeka hits all the standard indie drama and comedy notes, but its approach is graceless and its insights insufficient to warrant a retreading of such familiar territory. The narrative is tightly constructed, but utterly predictable, and the messaging is so overwarmed–Racism sucks! Family is important!–as to be off-putting. Faour, who fills Muna with eager-to-please earnestness and anxious confusion, is likable enough, so much that the film’s best moments of humor come courtesy of her, while those at her expense just seem mean-spirited. The film’s occasional wit enlivens its otherwise bland turns, but next to a keenly observed marvel like In Between Days, or even Sundance darlings like The Visitor and Frozen River, this is tired stuff.
Crude
2009 (USA)
Director: Joe Berlinger
Director Joe Berlinger has had a uneven career–from the definitive West Mephis 3 documentary Paradise Lost to the bafflingly ill-considered Blair Witch 2–but he’s never produced a work of socially-conscious agitprop like Crude. While the film hews to the general tone of slicker docs like The Corporation and Food, Inc., Berlinger has a much tighter focus. Specifically, Crude follows the fifteen-plus-year lawsuit that has pitted Chevron-Texaco against the native peoples of Ecuador allegedly poisoned by the company’s drilling wastes. Strictly as a vehicle for raising awareness about a critical Third World environmental battle, Crude is absorbing and grimly presented stuff, with Berlinger avoiding the smugness or breeziness that plagues many progressive Issues Documentaries. Content to let his subjects speak for themselves, the director presents the story without narration, adding only title cards to explain factual tidbits. Accordingly, Berlinger can be forgiven the romantic character his rough style lends to this David-and-Goliath conflict, and even his dewy delight when celebrities such as the President of Ecuador and Sting get involved in the fight. Ultimately, the plaintiffs couldn’t ask for a more straightforward, concise statement of the political, cultural, and emotional dimensions of their case than Crude.
Well Andrew, I did see this film a few week sago in a local arthouse theatre and awarded it 4 of 5 stars. I didn’t find it tired or trite but rather a perceptive look at the struggling immigrant experience. We have a Whie Castle nearby for many years, so I delighted in all the culinary humor associated with that infamous establishment, and the ongoing deception was amusing. The whol ething is so unpretentious and sweet-natures, and these are characters who are fun to be with. I do agree with what you say there about Abbas though. LOL!
As far as CRUDE, I completely agree with you. Prior to this I thought Berlinger’s first film, BROTHERS KEEPER, about an illiterate upstate New York hillbilly acused of murdering his brother (in what was obviously a mercy killing), and the director’s work in interviewing all the paticipants was exhausting (and fascinating). You are certainly correct in asserting this is the director’s first real ’socially conscious’ work, and the results are moving, as Berlinger stresses the urgency of injustice on a world stage.
Thanks for checking in during my Festival coverage, Sam! Your observations and warm persona are always appreciated here. :)
Amreeka just never came together for me. I found it cloying and predictable. I guess we’ll just have to chalk our difference up to Your Mileage May Vary.
As it happens, White Castle is a bit of a local institution here in St. Louis. Luis Mandoki’s relatively forgettable Susan Sarandon vehicle, “White Palace” was filmed and set here.