IN AMERICA
US, 2003, 130 minutes, Colour.
Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger,.
Directed by Jim Sheridan.
For a while, audiences might be thinking that writer-director, Jim Sheridan, has gone soft. After all, his films have been very strong, emotionally and physically: My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, The Field, The Boxer. In America is very sweet. Probably many will find the sweetness to much but, if the audience surrenders to the characters and the storytelling, they will find a depth to the sweetness.
In America is based on incidents in Sheridan's own life, especially his going to the United States from Ireland in the early 80s and struggling with his career. The film has been co-written with his two daughters so the picture of the children is very moving as well as the portrait of the adults. In fact, everything is seen from the perspective of the two girls, one ten and the other seven, having to cope with the death of their little brother from falling down stairs and a brain tumour and arriving in a strange land, Manhattan. While the parents have the struggles to find accommodation, deal with the strange characters in their building, look for work, experience a dangerous pregnancy, the girls adapt very easily - which offers quite a different perspective on the potentially dangerous and damaging situations. They make friends easily, do well at school, go trick or treating, befriend a dying African artist who becomes their saviour-figure.
Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine are strong character performers and do well as the parents. Djimon Hounsou (Amistad, Four Feathers) brings dignity to the role of the artist. But, it is two real-life Irish sisters, Sarah and Emma Bolger who drive the film. The older girl does the voiceover and is more quiet and self-conscious. The younger girl is delightfully spontaneous.
Sheridan is a powerful director when he takes on profound Irish themes. This story is much lighter but is his opportunity to tell something of his own story.
1. An appealing film? Emotion and sentiment? Based on a true story? The Irish perspective? The American perspective? Optimism?
2. America as the fulfilment of the Irish dream, the migrants of the 19th century, the contrast with the 20th century, the end of the 20th century? Manhattan as the fulfilment of a dream - dread, hope, reality?
3. The use of the Manhattan landscapes, Lower Manhattan, the streets and the apartments, the shops, the theatres, the hospital? Authentic? The musical score?
4. The voice-over and the perspective of the young girl, her three wishes, her love for her parents, her sister, her memory of her brother Frankie, his granting the wishes? The optimism of the young girl, her feet on the ground, her discovering reality?
5. The motivation for the family to go to New York, Frankie's death, the effect on each member of the family, blame, Johnny and his blaming himself, Sarah and her blaming herself, her anger at Johnny, her not wanting to blame him, his not wanting to blame her, the deep-seated feelings? The two girls and their reactions to Frankie, his death? The actual accident, his illness, the tumour, his death? Their having the photo? The way they remembered him? The home film footage? Their changing attitudes, accepting the present, Frankie and the perspective of the past, letting go of the photo, the changing attitude and their able to live their future?
6. The presentation of the family, Johnny as father and husband, Sarah as mother and wife, the two girls, the bonds between the two (and their being played by two actual sisters)? The tensions within the family, the decision to move, the expectations of America and New York, the bonds of strength in the family, Sarah and her restrained emotions, Johnny and his inability to weep? Johnny and his auditions, the comments on his having no feelings in his action? Their loving relationship, yet suspicions? The changes they experienced, especially during the pregnancy, the aftermath of the birth?
7. The portrait of the two girls, ten and seven, the spontaneity of the seven-year-old, her capacity for making friends, in the shop, at school, Halloween, the costumes, their special prize (and the older daughter's feeling of resentment that they were being patronised for being poor)? The nuns and their treatment of the girls, concerned, loving car? The trick or treat experience, people not answering the door, Matteo and his cries, their fear, their persistence in knocking? The growing bond with him? Their parents and the argument? The pregnancy, the birth, the aftermath, the change in attitude towards Frankie, the use of the three wishes?
8. Johnny and his age, experience, getting the apartment, carrying the air-conditioner down the streets, installing it, its collapse, the transformation of the apartment, his hopes with the auditions, rehearsing at home with the family? Sarah, her strength, sweetness, her love for the children, the tensions, her running the household, the shopping, the need for money, not wanting to blame Johnny? The daughter's voice-over about the sexual encounter and the conception of the young baby?
9. Trick or treating, Matteo, knowing his cries, knocking at the door, going in, his not seeming so frightening, his art, Christine and the sketches, Johnny and his suspicions? Inviting him to dinner, the prejudice, the discussions? The bond between Matteo and the children, looking after them, friendship? His illness and the pills? His collapse, ill in the hospital? The family and their love for him? His death? Leaving them the money and the possibility for paying the hospital and having a new life? Their calling the baby after him?
10. The fine detail of the film, the details of life in the apartment, the children going out with Sarah, the shop, their friends, the taxi rides?
11. Sarah in hospital, the birth, her initial reaction, her memories and dreams, her angers, her finally accepting the child? The expression of truth between Johnny and Sarah? The relief with the hounding of the hospital to pay and finding the bills paid?
12. The experience of marriage in its depth, the relationship between husband and wife, their love and their struggles, the hurts and the blames, the possibility of telling the truth, reconciliation? The experience of the death of a child and its aftermath? The experience of the living children, tenderness and care for them? The importance of having the baby, and the hopes for a future?
