陈晚
寂静，欢喜。
美国文学课的老师让我们挑选一部可以反映美国梦的电影。全班同学每人挑一部，我选的是Amreeka。这是我大年三十写的作业，得了满分。
作业：
Keeping in mind some of our discussion about what is included in the term "American," think about what films you think represent some aspect of the American identity (as we might consider it in the context of the United States). You can also select a film that people would consider "a classic American film."
Explain in a brief paragraph (about 5-6 sentences) why you selected that film. See if you can locate a clip of it on YouTube and post it here for us to see in case we've never seen the film. Feel free to respond to each others' posts.
我的回答：
The movie I choose is called Amreeka which was released in 2009. This movie was directed by first-time director Cherien Dabis and won 2009 Cario International Film Festival.I choose this movie to represent some aspects of American identity due to the following reasons. First, it represents American identity as a big melting pot. The main characters in the movie are a divorced Palestinian Christian mother whose name is Muna and her teenage son Fadi. After immigrating to USA, they eventually melt into the big pot of USA. Second, this movie also represents American identity by inclusion of women. Although she has difficulty to find her real job in a bank, Muna could raise her son by working hard at a restaurant instead. The role of women playing in American life is very obvious in this movie. Third, this movie shows us the relative fairness in USA , which is very important in American identify . Muna and her son get their green cards through the lottery, which provides equal opportunity to all the applicants worldwide. Forth, this movie represents American identity of being unique as herself or himself. Being a divorced mother, Muna finds a new love in USA through her optimism and her dedication to her family and friends. Fifth, this movie also represents American identity as a powerful nation. Muna suffers a lot in her home country. After she immigrates to USA, Muna’s life changes dramatically to a promising future. Last but not least, the movie director Cherien Dabis is a first-time director. His success in this movie also represents American identify of being equal, that is, every dream of everybody is possible in USA.
电影介绍：
The movie plot is shown below. I copy it from internet for your quick reference:
Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) is a divorced Palestinian Christian mother raising her teenage son Fadi (Melkar Muallem). She works for a bank inRamallah, part of the West Bank, Palestinian territories. Each day after work, Muna picks up Fadi from school and crosses through an Israeli checkpoint in order to get to their home in Bethlehem. She lives with her aging mother and has occasional visits from her brother Samer. One day after arriving home, Muna discovers that she has been awarded an American green card through the lottery.[5][6] Although she initially considered declining the offer, Muna reconsiders after she and Fadi are harassed at the checkpoint by Israeli soldiers.
They arrive in the United States shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq to stay with her sister’s family in Illinois. After a difficult time with customs, Muna is reunited with her sister, Raghda Halaby (Hiam Abbass), physician brother-in-law Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda) and their three children Salma (Alia Shawkat), Rana (Jenna Kawar), and Lamis (Selena Haddad). Later, however, Muna discovers that a box of cookies was confiscated during the customs search and is horrified: the box contained all of her life savings. Muna thus searches for work, but is disappointed to discover that her multiple degrees and work experience do not guarantee the kind of employment she is seeking. She finally takes a job at White Castle. Too ashamed to tell her family the truth, she pretends to have been hired by the bank next door to White Castle. She maintains the facade through the help of an employee of the bank next door to White Castle (Miriam Smith) and her blue-haired high school drop-out co-worker, Matt (Brodie Sanderson).
Meanwhile, Muna begins to discover that her sister's family has been experiencing difficulties in the Post-9/11 and Iraq war atmosphere of the United States. The family receives anonymous threats in the mail and Nabeel is continually losing patients from his medical practice. They are also behind on their mortgage and risk losing their home. The strain of living in this atmosphere becomes so severe that Raghda and Nabeel temporarily "separate" and Nabeel moves into the basement of the family home.
Later, when some of the students make derogatory remarks to Fadi, he gets into a fight and his mother is called to meet with the school's principal Mr. Novatski (Joseph Ziegler). Shortly after the meeting, Mr. Novatski sees Muna waiting for her sister and insists on driving her to work. He apologizes to her for the behavior of the students towards Fadi saying that they are influenced by the media's depiction of Muslims. Muna is dismayed by the stereotypes he describes to her. She also informs him that she and Fadi are not Muslims, but are rather from a minority community. Embarrassed by his assumption, Mr. Novatski apologizes and says that he is a minority as well as an American Jew whose grandparents were Polish Jews. She is surprised to learn that he is Jewish. Muna asks him to drop her off at the bank but forgets her purse, an act which leads him to discover that she works secretly at White Castle. Deciding to have a meal there, they discover that they are both divorced.
On another day, local high school students make discriminatory remarks about Fadi to Muna while she is working in White Castle. She chases them out, only to slip on a drink one of the boys poured on the floor and falls flat on her back. Matt immediately calls her family who then discovers her secret. Furious over the incident, Fadi gets into a fight with one of the boys and is subsequently arrested. In addition to assault, ambiguous charges are also leveled towards him that are serious enough to prevent Muna from getting him released. Muna contacts Mr. Novatski who rushes to the police station and tells the officers that the accusations are without merit and that he will assume responsibility for Fadi. Fadi is thus released from jail. These events also lead Raghda and Nabeel to reconcile.
A little while later, Muna is working at White Castle and her family comes to take her to a Middle Eastern restaurant for dinner. While leaving she bumps into Mr. Novatski and invites him to join them for dinner. Raghda teases Muna when he enters the car and the evening ends with music and dancing.
老师评语：Teacher’s comment:
I will definitely have to check out this movie!
Prof. Lee, Jan 30 at 1:58pm
I like that it focuses on the depiction of the role of women, but also divorced women, mothers, immigrants, and so on.
