Golden Door
by Emanuele Crialese
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ernesto Mahieux, Filippo Pucillo, Ilaria Giorgino, Isabella Ragonese, Natale RussoDirector: Emanuele Crialese
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: WALT DISNEY VIDEO
Movie Reviews of Golden Door
Movie Review: Harsh Lives
Summary: 2 Stars
"Golden Door" is a movie about a Sicilian family's immigration to America, "the land where milk flows in rivers". It is a look at the hardships they face in leaving their homes and traveling here, and the difficulties of actually being accepted by the authorities: illness and mental retardation, for example, could result in deportation.
The movie is introduced by famed director Martin Scorsese. Of Sicilian descent, Scorsese praises this film for being true to what he remembers of his childhood and his family. It may have been personally moving to him, but this was a boring film. It is so slow moving as to be almost painful to watch. It is filmed in dark and dreary colors (probably to emphasize the hopelessness of the immigrants' lives) but it resulted in a movie that is exceedingly depressing.
There are so many instances where the storyline makes no sense. For example, one main character is an attractive English redhead who captures every man's attention aboard the ship. All kinds of rumors circulate about her: Is she a princess? Is she a prostitute? Was she married to a nobleman? Is there some lover waiting for her? But her background and story are never revealed. All we know is she needs to marry someone, anyone, to get into the country. Even the immigration official tells her that she will be questioned why she, an Englishwoman, is traveling with Italian immigrants--highly unusual. But no questioning ever is shown.
It is not a spoiler to tell you that at the end of the movie when the main character is faced with a harsh decision the movie suddenly ends. We never know what happens, leaving a sense of dissatisfaction among viewers.
Summary of Golden Door
Sicilian peasant Salvatore yearns for a better life, one he believes exists only in the fabled land known as America where carrots grow taller than men, rivers flow with milk and golden coins rain from the trees. He sells everything he owns to make the trans-Atlantic passage with his two sons and elderly mother. On the perilous steamship crossing, Salvatore meets a mysterious, worldly Englishwoman, Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and an unexpected romance unfolds. But neither Salvatore nor Lucy is prepared for the arrival at Ellis Island, where families are inspected, interrogated and split apart. They will have to bravely face their personal and collective dilemmas in order to become part of the American dream.Swiping its title from the inscription on the Statue of Liberty ("I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"), Emanuele Crialese's third film manages to be epic and quirky at the same time. In most coming-to-America stories set during the turn-of-the century, a prologue establishes the central character's birthplace. Then, he boards a ship. In the next scene, he disembarks on American soil. The rest of the movie concerns his (or her) efforts to adjust to a new culture. Crialese (Respiro) ditches that last part altogether. Instead, he builds his entire narrative around the Mancuso family's journey from Sicily to New York. First, he introduces the deeply superstitious clan. Feisty matriarch Fortunata (Aurora Quattrocchi) is a healer. Her son, Salvatore (Vincenzo Amato), is a widowed farmer with two sons and a vivid imagination. Informed that America's vegetables are as big as men and that California's rivers are made of milk, Salvatore becomes obsessed with these images. While boarding the steamer to the States, he meets well-born Englishwoman Lucy (a redheaded Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Science of Sleep). She takes a shine to Salvatore, who keeps an eye on her throughout the voyage. Once they land at Ellis Island, the new arrivals realize their journey is far from over. There are medical inspections and intelligence tests, and those found wanting will be deported. Crialese concludes with one of Salvatore's imaginings writ large--suffice to say, it concerns milk. With the late Vincent Schiavelli (Amadeus) as a marriage broker. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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