American Beauty

How crazy is this? 2003 is one of the best years ever for Irish cinema. In Intermission, Goldfish Memory and Dead Bodies, it has produced a string of memorable local independent productions, which together suggest that a new generation of potentially great movie-makers is coming through here, at last.

Now, with the winter upon us, it has turned in another even more sensational work, In America – this time, from one of our established directorial talents, Jim Sheridan. But by way of saying thanks and well done, the Government here is threatening to pull the rug from under Irish film-makers. Go figure.
In America is the kind of film that could – no make that should – sweep the boards at next year’s Oscars. It is a film of great heart and emotion, which is wonderfully timely in a number of important ways. Not the least of these is that it is a powerful film about the United States and about many of the good things that we associate with that vast country and its extraordinary people.

In many respects, it goes against the grain of current political sentiment in America. The opening scene shows an Irish family – a father, a mother and their two young daughters – coming to the Canadian/US border in a car. They have their story prepared – that they are on a family holiday, that the man won’t be looking for a job. But this is a lie. They are illegal immigrants, coming to try to make a new life for themselves in the old new world.
The opening scenes are glorious in their celebration of the fantastically familiar wonder that is Manhattan, especially on a first encounter. And the film is imbued throughout with that sense of magic – recounted through the voice of one of the young girls who are the real stars of the film, it reflects a deep and genuine appreciation of what the US has given, in terms of cultural diversity and in terms of the life of the imagination, to the world.
There is a deep humanity and warmth to the film that makes it a feelgood experience – but not in any shallow sense. In its depiction of American life it reflects the hard reality of how tough it can be to make a few cents and to get established. But there is much in it that should make citizens of the US feel better about themselves, emphasising as it does the American values of open-ness and honesty, of freedom and diversity – and the position of the family as a potentially positive force at the heart of things.
In the current political climate the immigrant family would be far less likely to make it across the border from Canada. In the current climate too, the cast of characters who occupy the East Village streets in which the young Irish find themselves, would likely feel far less at home. There are hispanics hereabouts, black guys from Africa, middle-easterners about whom nowadays the description shadowy might be employed. It is one of the great strengths of the film that this new and unfamiliar community is depicted through Irish eyes with such respect and growing affection.
There is much that the film has to say to Irish people also. Given the way in which Irish attitudes to immigrants arriving in our own place have been hardening over the past few years, a film that puts the boot on the other foot could hardly be more timely. It is richly symbolic that the film hinges on the generosity and love shown by one of the black characters to the Irish family, as they struggle to deal with the emotional and financial pressures of welcoming another child into the world.
In America tells one family’s story and their struggle to overcome a terrible personal tragedy. But it has a wider theme too. Exhibiting a depth of compassion and of empathy, as well as humour, it makes a plea for tolerance and understanding and love. And it offers us a liberating sense that what we need to do is to reclaim the absence of inhibition and the freedom from prejudice that comes naturally to children.

Where the Academy Awards are concerned, the position of children at the centre of the film is interesting. There is an old Hollywood maxim that you should never work with children or animals. It is hardly surprising then that children are not looked upon favourably by the Oscar – it seems that the system holds them in some kind of suspicion, bordering on disregard. Well, In America offers an opportunity to redress that particular prejudice.
It is understating it to say that, under Jim Sheridan’s masterful direction, the sisters – played by the real life sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger – steal the show. They are staggeringly good. What’s more they avoid the precociousness, which too often characterises even the better performances by children in movies. If there is any justice in the system, they will be up there, picking up awards come Oscar time. The question is, will the Academy have the courage to acknowledge them?