Amreeka

America is a compelling and evocative slice of life in the world of a divorced Palestinian Christian immigrant Muna (played by Nisreen Faour) from Bethlehem and her son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) who travel to the U.S.

And if you don't know what my title is in reference to then you haven't seen this movie. "when you are in this house you are in Palestine", that's another important statement in this movie!

It's 2003 at the start of the Iraq war. Muna Farah and her son Fadi are Palestinian Christians living in Bethlehem under occupation.

This is a great film about immigrating to North America as a divorced mother. The interactions between Mona (the mother) and Fadi (the son) are memorable; whether it be at the border at the occupied territories, in the US regarding his rebelliousness in school or confronting the attitude of US rural society.

Directed and written by Cherien Dabis, the movie tells the story of a proud Palestinian Christian immigrant single mother, Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) and her teenage son, Fadi Farah (Melkar Muallem) in small town Indiana, facing the trials and tribulations of moving to another country. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, I love how well-shot and well-written, the film is.

This very moving 2009 film written and directed by Cherien Dabis could hardly be more timely, what with the current Immigration issues in filibuster in Washington and entry into the land of hope and liberty, so long a dream for many, now a country under close surveillance of individual privacy. This is a film, simple on the surface, but one with a significant message that would benefit all to watch and digest.

Lucky me, seeing Alia Shawkat twice in a row, unexpectedly, on a Saturday film night. This time she plays an American cousin to a Palestinian boy who comes to America with his mother.

"Amreeka" has, I would say, all the freshness and the weaknesses an indie movie comes with. Being about a family of Palestinian immigrants struggling to find their way in America and facing all kind of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab stereotypes, this movie cannot escape its own stereotypes.

I can see from some of the reviews that some people didn't like this heart warming little film. that seems awfully hard.