Golden Door
Directed by Emanuele Crialese
Charlotte Gainsburg and Vincenzo Amato
Presented by Martin Scorsese
PG-13/ 118 minutes
Miramax Home Video

Golden Door is a dramatic tale of two people finding hope and love on a voyage to the New World. Presented by Miramax films and Martin Scorcese, Golden Door tells of the difficult journey of a Sicilian peasant named Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato) bringing his two sons Angelo and Pietro (Franseco Casisa and Filippo Pucillo), his mother Fortunata (Aurora Quattrocchi), and his two wards Rita and Rosa (Federica De Cola and Isabella Ragonese) to America and the chance meeting he has with Lucy Reed, also known as Lucea Reed (Charlotte Gainsburg) on the same journey to America via Ellis Island.

Opening the first third of the movie is a scene of father and son, Salvatore and Angelo, climbing barefoot on craggy rocks with a rock in their mouth. We then see two women, Rita and Rosa, making their way to visit Fortunata — the area magic woman — while being harassed by Pietro, to exercise a snake which has invaded Rosa’s stomach. In these two scenes the movie sets you up to witness beliefs in magic, dreams, and omens. The movie progresses throughout with these themes and we are tempted into believing that faith in something you have never seen, like the rivers of milk in California, or that the trees which bear money throughout the New World are reality. Little do these believers know the rumors they hear about the New World or the pictures they see of fruit and vegetables bigger than children, are nothing more than American propaganda.

The ocean voyage of the Mancusos and Lucy to America takes up the second third of the movie and at times presents bursts of cinematic genius. An instance of this genius is when we learn of Lucy’s history through the gossip of the single men looking for wives and the single women braving Lucy’s standoffish demeanor. She is in Italy to marry, but her fiancé died before her nuptials and she leaves Italy to find a new husband. The director does an excellent job of portraying Lucy’s inner workings through others because she is extremely guarded, be it positive or negative. However, as an audience, we never know if this is a tragic flaw or an endearing personality trait which makes you want to learn and know more about her.

The final portion of the movie takes place at Ellis Island and we witness the difficult, gritty, and painful truths of what it takes to get into America and the sacrifices that all of the Mancusos and Lucy will have to make to try to walk down the streets of gold in the New World.

I enjoyed this movie because it was pretty to look at. It was not the brilliant writing because there was not enough dialogue in the entire movie. It was not the character portrayal and advancement because even though the actors and actresses portrayed their roles well, they had no deep substance in the dialogue to draw you even further into their worlds. Simply put, the movie was gorgeous. It had an other worldly feel that in spite of the heart-wrenching tale that was going on, it was a pleasure to watch. Great dramas are great for different reasons, some are beautiful to watch (Memoirs of a Geisha), bring you to tears (The Door in the Floor — if you have not seen this, you must run out and rent it, and remember to pick up some tissues), or leave you loving love (It’s A Wonderful Life). Golden Door falls into the category that it was great because it looked great, but, not great because it bought you to tears, presented love as well, or had a great screenplay.

DVD Bonus Features

Making of Golden Door — Emanuele Crialese wrote and directed this highly acclaimed film. Crialese explains that it was his interest in immigrants and their stories of transmigration in the turn of the 20th century which led him to research, for almost 8 years, in order to pen the perfect screenplay. But, it was in his findings about Ellis Island which made Crialese realize that the gateway to the New World was one founded on intellectual supremacy, bigotry, and false scientific information that personifies the difficulty of relocation. When Crialese states, “Ellis Island was a place to select the most favorable people to join the New World,” he debunked many of my past beliefs of what this entry point really was. Growing up, I was always taught that Ellis Island was the first checkpoint that immigrants went to when they arrived in America. They were medically checked and were granted admission to the American shores. Racking my memory, I could not recall learning about the psychological tests, deductive reasoning sessions, or mental capacity exams that the characters endured. Apparently the history is there and Crialese did a good job of finding it and depicting it in this moving tale.

Filmed entirely in Buenos Aires, the writer/director hand selected the 700 member cast. Crialese truly has a remarkable eye, and in his selection of the cast, you see why each person was selected for their particular role. He often stated that it was in the misery, anguish, and hope in the immigrants’ eyes that we gain knowledge of their feelings in leaving their home in hopes to develop a new and better one. Every person in every role has a distinct story and in the eyes of the actors and actresses we see a true devotion to this piece of work and the tale it weaves for the audience.