ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

mike hatton Nuovomondo, a thought-provoking film about the Italian immigrants who left for the States many moons ago. I have seldom seen a film shot so tight and claustrophobically. At the same time it captures an experience that appeals to our connectedness as humanity rather than as individuals. When I lived in New York, I would go some days to Ellis Island, lie in the grass and gaze upon Manhattan Island and I would feel comforted by the ghosts of the dreamers from long ago.They were people humbled by hardship and confounded by the abstractions that tried to put a value on them. Although I am a loner, I will often lose myself in the joys that humanity does provide. A good film that provides a somewhat less glamorized view of the immigrant experience than that typified by a reveal on the Statue of Liberty.

lastliberal An interesting look at the immigrant experience, told as a fable with some very weird imagery.I got drawn to this movie because it tells of immigrants from Sicily who traveled to America. I imagine much the same as my Grandfather did at that time. Travelling in steerage to provide ballast for the ships, I cannot imagine it was very comfortable, as shown in this film.Laws restricting immigrants existed. I would guess that these laws were more strict on those who came from the Mediterranean and Africa. Immigrants had to be free from contagious diseases or hereditary infirmities. In the film, we see physical and mental exams, the latter because of the view that low intelligence is heritable. Single women could not enter the country, on the presumption that they would become prostitutes, so most married single men already in the country, as arranged beforehand, at Ellis Island before entry.This is the story of a British immigrant (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who arranges to marry a poor Sicilian (Vincenzo Amato). He is trying to get his family through with a son that is mute and a mother (Aurora Quattrocchi) that is considered feeble-minded. She was fantastic in the role, by the way.You will also see character actor, Vincent Schiavelli, in his next to the last appearance. I don't know if his last film has been released. He plays a matchmaker, and is also very good.It was a strange, but enjoyable film. It's not for everyone, as I imagine those who don't have some interest in the immigrant experience would find it rather slow.

D A The Golden Door attempts to play out with authenticity and old world charm as we watch an early 20th century Italian family brave the rough waters to America. With decent production value and some fine cinematography we are led on a brief-but-extended, pseudo-epic journey which may please older emigrated families, but rarely will please film buffs craving some of the restrained vision this film pretends to have.For one it just seems the film's creator, Emanuele Crialese, is a bit young to be relaying this tale in such a detailed scope, and at times it really shows. Contrasting his often contrived and over-extended scenes with some inventive imagery might have been more successful had the surrealism been implemented a bit more maturely, but here the direction mostly comes across as silly or distracting.

greenylennon Some days ago, in Rome, a young Romanian man with criminal precedents assaulted and tortured to death a middle-age lady coming back home after an afternoon of shopping. A Romanian girl, who had seen everything, reported what happened.Therefore, it started a debate about the too much intense flow of immigrants from Romania, generalizing them as criminals, everyone, indiscriminately.I'm only 15, but I thought: what idea of affluence does Italy give to these poor people? How ever do they regard us as the Land of Plenty? Yesterday evening I finally saw NUOVOMONDO, and my question had an answer. When you have only a donkey and some goats, those propaganda postcards showing United States as a land with milk rivers and huge vegetables, makes such an impression.NUOVOMONDO is really a must-see film. It balances an ethereal symbolism (milk rivers, glances' play, hard and rocky mountains, the name and character Lucy/Luce) and a cruel realism (the mass of hopeful people on the ship, the procedures at Ellis Island). There's a mixed cast, going from the angelic Charlotte Gainsbourg to the realistic Vincenzo Amato, till a bitter and smashing Aurora Quattrocchi as the mother. But was it really so hard to enter in the New World?