NUOVOMONDO (GOLDEN DOOR)
Italy, 2006, 120 minutes, Colour.
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato.
Directed by Emanuele Crialesi.
SIGNIS award winner at Venice, 2006 and winner of other prizes at the festival including an official jury award. Nuovomondo was chosen as Italy’s official nominee for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.
Nuovomondo is well worth seeing.
Another reason for seeing the film is its subject. The Nuovo Mondo, the New World – or the Golden Door of the film’s title in English – is that of the United States one hundred years ago. Migrants from all over Europe, from Ireland, Italy, Russia and Eastern Europe, many of them refugees, many economic migrants, made their way to the new world in hopes of a better life.
We now take these migrations for granted and see the benefits that the newcomers brought to their adoptive country, especially in terms of the workforce – even if so many of them were exploited. The point to be made now is that different populations from all parts of the contemporary world are on the move. There are even more refugees. There are more displaced people. There are more economic migrants. The pattern of the past remains, where previous migrants are so settled into their new homes that they begrudge favours to newcomers who want only the same as what they wanted when they arrived.
This is why it can be valuable to watch a film life Nuovomondo so that these patterns are not necessarily repeated, that welcome is offered to newcomers, that opportunities are made available and that discrimination is not to be taken for granted.
Nuovomondo comprises three chapters.
The initial location is Sicily at the beginning of the 20th century. Life is hard. Peasants are poor. The terrain, though beautiful, is harsh. The film opens with young men racing up a steep mountain with rocks in their mouths as part of the endurance so that they can pray at a shrine for a sign as to what they must do for their future. After much discussion and heart-searching, they apply to sail to America. The film has some marvellous detail of their preparations for the voyage, their buying clothes, the families at the wharves to farewell them.
The second part of the film is the voyage. The re-creation of the boat and life on board, sometimes exciting, at other times harsh with the crowding and the nervousness of people who have no real idea of what lies ahead of them, is so detailed that audiences will feel that they are sharing the voyage. This part introduces Charlotte Gainsbourg as a widow from England trying to find someone who will marry her and enable her to land in America lawfully. She makes friends with the three men from Sicily.
The final section of the film is the arrival in the United States. While they watch the statue of Liberty in New York’s harbour, they land at Ellis Island, the point of entry to America for so many of the migrants. They are herded into quarters, interrogated in a language they barely understand, they are prodded and poked for disease or anything that would disqualify them from entry. Since one of the men is mute, we see the lengths the others go to to help him enter.
The film ends as they arrive at the Golden Doors which will open to their new life.
Interesting, moving, thoughtful – and still relevant today.
1.Acclaim for the film? Impact for Italian audiences? Americans? Worldwide?
2.The title, the 19th century and the dreams of Europeans migrating to America? The images on the postcards – money growing on trees, large hens and animals, pools of milk, giant vegetables like carrots? The emigration experience and hopes?
3.The screenplay in three acts: Sicily, the voyage, Ellis Island?
4.The Sicilian background, the mountains, the villages, the pier? The contrast with life on the boat, at sea? The interiors of the boat? Below decks? The storm experience? Ellis Island, the corridors and stairwells, the wharves, the halls?
5.The opening, Salvatore and Angelo climbing the mountain, the rocks in their mouth, the vastness of the steep mountain, their pilgrimage to the top, the shrine, placing their rocks there, the religious emblems? Their vigil, praying for a sign, Pietro running up the mountain, bringing the postcards and the photos? The decision to go to America?
6.Life in the village, for the men, for the women, Pietro as mute? The girls and their being promised in marriage? The postcards and the dreams? Salvatore’s mother, unwilling? The brother already in America? The preparations for the trip, especially getting the clothes, the hat?
7.Salvatore, in his mid-30s, a good man in himself, wise? Angelo as younger? Pietro as mute, inexperienced? The mother and her age? Isolation in the village? Determined to find the brother already in America – because they looked alike? The scenes with the man getting them the clothes, putting everything in order, the documents, the photo? The presentation of the vision – the giant vegetables, the giant carrot, Salvatore in the pool of milk?
8.At the wharf, going on board, the crowds, finding the proper places to go, Salvatore trying to keep the family together? On the boat, the men separating from the women, getting the bunks, trying to settle in, not having much luggage? The visual impact of the boat separating from the crowded wharf? Emotional departure from the motherland?
9.Luce, her style and manner, English, the stories about her, leaving her husband, being stranded in Sicily? Her joining the family at the photo session and the humorous scene for the photo? Her standing with them? Standing together with them, getting on the boat, taking her place with the bunk, saying that she could read that her bunk was there while the other woman could not read? The mother and her suspicions, being adjacent to Luce, warming to her, especially after the storm?
10.Life on board the ship, their managing, the men talking with one another, the American going to Sicily to sign on women to be promised to his clients? His surveying the women, looking at Luce? Salvatore and Angelo and their trying to look at Luce surreptitiously? The impact of the storm, people below decks, falling from one side to the other, the havoc? The aftermath, carrying the dead?
11.The arrival in New York, Ellis Island, Luce and her request to Salvatore, his saying yes, she saying that she did not love him but was marrying him to get into America? The possibilities for a deeper relationship? In Ellis Island, the interminable line-ups, the people being herded, the variety of costumes and languages from different countries, confusion? Salvatore and his managing? Angelo? Pietro and his being mute and their having to cover for him? His shrewdness? The mother and her continued bewilderment, not wanting to be touched?
12.The variety of tests: putting the blocks in order, Salvatore building the house, Angelo not being able to do it, Luce doing it very quickly? The maths and their using their fingers? Pietro and the placing of the chair, opening the door, the book? The health examination, the men having to be naked, Pietro’s bewilderment? The mother not wanting to be touched in the physical examination? Her new experience of the shower, the women having the shower and being clean?
13.The halls, the men on one side, the women on the other, the ritual about arranging marriages? The two girls from the village and their reluctance in saying yes after seeing the men? The older Hispanic woman and the younger man? The New York agent and his putting forward the men for the brides? Luce, her explanation to the authorities, the documents, her writing them, Salvatore unable to write, declaring his love for her?
14.The family together, standing before the board, the decision to send Pietro and the mother home, thinking that she was soft in the head? Salvatore’s speech, asking who could play God?
15.The final image of Salvatore and Luce, clothed and hatted in the milk, the crowds in the milk, swimming together – symbolic of the hopes for life in America?
16.The migration of the 19th and 20th centuries, the thousands from Europe, the different backgrounds? The United States and the demands on these emigrants? Rigorous? The poor of Europe – becoming the prosperous of the United States?
17.The resonances for 20th and 21st century migrations, the millions on the move? From what and from where – to what and to where? The humane response?
