# America, America (1963)

### reviewed by
Brian Koller

    America, America (1963)

    Grade: 84

Born in Turkey, Elia Kazan became one of Hollywood's best directors. He is best known for "On the Waterfront", "A Streetcar Named Desire", and "Gentleman's Agreement", but my favorite film of his was his first, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", from 1945.

"America, America" was Kazan's most personal effort, telling the true story of his uncle's struggle to emigrate to America at the turn of the century. It was the first screenplay that Kazan wrote, and it is outstanding. Judging from this film, one could conclude that Kazan was even better at writing scripts than directing films.

The Turks, then part of the Ottoman Empire, oppressed the Armenian and Greek minorities. The Armenians, who would be slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands in 1915, get the worst of it because they resist. The Greeks endure their subjegation in silence.

Abdul (Lou Antonio) is an intense and serious young man, of Greek heritage. He is the oldest son of his father, who depends on him to improve the lives of his family. Abdul is obsessed with leaving his homeland for the land of opportunity and wealth, America. But to reach his goal, he must suffer hardships and compromise his character.

After he is robbed of the family's savings, he tries to save money for the ship's passage by working as a day laborer. He is slow to realize that money can never be saved in such a life, and must swallow his pride and accept an arranged marriage to secure passage. Further indignities are in store for him, as he is willing to make any sacrifice neccessary to reach America and live up to the expectations and faith that his family has placed in him.

"America, America" was nominated for several important Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay. But 1963 was also the year for "Tom Jones", another excellent film, and one that Academy voters were likely more comfortable with. Antonio's intense performance was relatively ignored with the focus on Kazan, although Antonio has since become one of the top directors of American television shows.

kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews