Golden Door

Golden Door from Italian Director Emanuele Crialese was a touching, inventive film. I liked his vision and although the pacing was slow, it was realistic. It followed a family in Sicily at the turn of the century as they struggled with their decision to emigrate to the new world. After seeing postcards with giant vegetables and animals and money trees and climbing to the top of the mountain and leaving their rock offering for the madonna to wait for a sign from her, they decide to go ahead. Father and sons trade their animals for clothes and leave with Nonna and the two neighbourhood girls who were "promised" to two Americans. At the port, Charlotte Gainsbourg starts to hang around them and claims she is travelling with them because her American fiance dumped her.

Scenes on the boat were more than half the screen time (and felt as long as it probably was for the travellers). The entry requirements and examinations at Ellis Island seem excessive and discriminatory to us today but immigration still requires variations of these requirements for immigrants today. There was no score but the director used 2 songs: Michael Buble, Feeling Good ("It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life....) and Nina Simone, Sinnerman (a rythmic, rollicking spiritual that still sings in my head). For the director's clever use of milk and oversized vegetables and a haunting group shot as the boat leaves port, I give it MMMm

Golden Door was slow
pacing matched the new world trip
no wonder I fly

After the flick we walked and walked through downtown checking out restaurants around Yonge and King and ended up grabbing a quick pint at a quaint Irish pub.