AmreekaRated 14 Accompaniment (Coarse Language) ~ Runs 96 minutes
Dir.: Cherien Dabis, US/Canada, 2009
Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass
In English and some Arabic with English subtitles.
“An immigration drama as poignant as it is buoyant... Filled out with fantastic performances and truly charming characters... memorable and affecting... It’s a great little picture.” - Sara Schieron, Box Office. “From the West Bank to White Castle flips the resilient heroine of Amreeka, a culture-clash dramedy whose background in Middle-East conflict is leavened with vibrant energy, balanced politics and droll humor... [An] enormously appealing turn by earthy Nisreen Faour in the lead role of Muna, a Palestinian single mother who brings her teenage son to rural Illinois in pursuit of a brighter future... Amreeka takes its name from the Arab word for America. Pic opens on the West Bank, just prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, with divorced Muna's discovery of the green card that will take her and 16-year-old Fadi away from their daily drive through menacing checkpoints to Jerusalem. More of a similar nature, however, accompanies Muna and her son at the Chicago airport, where the modest seed money she had naively wrapped in a cookie tin gets confiscated by customs agents, leaving her broke upon arrival at the suburban home of her sister Raghda... Muna tries and fails to land a bank management job similar to the one she held back home, leading her to take work at a White Castle and struggle to keep it secret from her sister and son... Although Dabis, particularly in scenes at Fadi's new school, maintains the presence of white prejudice and the threat of violence, she takes care to reassure her audience that the film will protect its characters from grave harm... In addition to Faour's irresistible turn as Muna, acting is strong and believable. Dabis and her crew make creative use of locations in the teeming West Bank and the wide-open spaces of suburban Illinois... and the sprinkling of Arabic pop on the soundtrack helps keep Dabis' tribute to Middle-Eastern culture authentic and jaunty.” - Rob Nelson, Variety
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