Amreeka
Directed by Charion Dabis
By Robert Bell

As far as recent films about the experience of immigrating to North America go, Amreeka is not as leadenly liberal and self-righteous as The Visitor, nor is it as spiritually awkward as Heaven on Earth. It does boast, however, a variety of issues that detract marginally from a mostly affable, if cartoon-ish, look at belonging and assimilation in the land of opportunity.

The L Word writer Charion Dabis's feature film debut jumps into action with the occupied West Bank, where Muna (Nisreen Faour) works dispiritedly as a bank employee, commuting around the newly formed wall through military checkpoints, suffering insult and degradation. Opportunity brings Muna and her son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), to Illinois, where they bunk with family during their transition.

Unfortunately, what the elated new immigrants discover is a country fractured by wartime woes and blanket discrimination, as Fadi battles bullies at school who call him Osama, and Muna can only find employment at White Castle despite her multiple degrees and banking background. And while these plights frequently manifest in a laborious, pedagogical light, highlighting the absurdity of dreading difference and the pain of alienation, Amreeka is not a cynical film.

For all of the hammy classroom discussions about the Middle East and two-dimensional American racists, there are equal parts naïve caricatures of goodness, in the form of a lonely Jewish principal and helpful bank employee, who help the newcomers find comfort and placement. America isn't vilified here anymore than Palestinian territory is, leaving a balanced, albeit overtly constructed, glimpse into immigration through an imminently likable protagonist that acknowledges both the good and the bad.

Politics and racial disharmony aside, Dabis maintains a pleasant tone throughout the film, injecting comedy and a naturalistic family dynamic, keeping unseemly events from falling into heavy-handed, melodramatic territory. This wise sensibility makes it easy to overlook the many blatant flaws on display throughout. (E1)
Film Reviews: The Twilight Saga: New Moon - Dir. by Chris Weitz
Film Reviews: Planet 51 - Dir. by Jorge Blanco
Film Reviews: Mary and Max - Dir. by Adam Elliott
Film Reviews: The Blind Side - Dir. by John Lee Hancock
Film Reviews: Fantastic Mr. Fox - Dir. by Wes Anderson
Film Reviews: Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire - Dir. by Lee Edwards
Film Reviews: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - Dir. by Werner Herzog
Videogame Reviews: GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony [Xbox 360]
Videogame Reviews: Dragon Age: Origins [Multi-platform]
Dvd Reviews: The Limits Of Control - Dir. by Jim Jarmusch
Dvd Reviews: In The Loop - Dir. by Armando Iannucci
Dvd Reviews: I Sell the Dead - Dir. by Glenn McQuaid
Dvd Reviews: Thirst - Dir. by Park Chan-wook
Dvd Reviews: Up - Dir. by Pete Docter
Dvd Reviews: Brüno - Dir. by Larry Charles
Dvd Reviews: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - Dir. by Shawn Levy
Dvd Reviews: The Transformers The Complete Series
Dvd Reviews: Franklyn - Dir. by Gerald McMorrow
Dvd Reviews: My One and Only - Dir. by Richard Loncraine
Dvd Reviews: My Effortless Brilliance - Dir. by Lynn Shelton
Music DVD Reviews: Marilyn Manson - Guns, God and Government Live in L.A. [Blu-Ray]
Dvd Reviews: Monty Python: Almost the Truth The Laywer’s Cut
Dvd Reviews: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan - Dir. by Edward James Olmos
Film Reviews: The Horse Boy - Dir. by Michel Orion Scott
Film Reviews: Love & Savagery - Dir. by John N. Smith
Film Reviews: Pirate Radio - Dir. by Richard Curtis
Film Reviews: I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell - Dir. by Bob Gosse
Film Reviews: 2012 - Dir. by Roland Emmerich
Film Reviews: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day - Dir. by Troy Duffy
Film Reviews: Antichrist - Dir. by Lars von Trier
Film Reviews: Prom Night in Mississippi - Dir. by Paul Saltzman
Music DVD Reviews: Brutal Truth - For the Ugly and Unwanted: This Is Grindcore
Music DVD Reviews: Bob Marley - Stations of the Cross
Dvd Reviews: Aliens in the Attic - Dir. by John Schultz
Dvd Reviews: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition [Blu-ray] - Dir. by Jeremiah S. Chechik
Dvd Reviews: Kathy Griffin: She’ll Cut a Bitch - Dir. by Paul Miller
Dvd Reviews: The Ugly Truth - Dir. by Robert Luketic
Dvd Reviews: Merry Sitcom! Christmas Classics From TV’s Golden Age
Dvd Reviews: Animation Express
Dvd Reviews: Passchendaele - Dir. by Paul Gross
Dvd Reviews: Bald - Dir. by Blake Leibel
Dvd Reviews: Mystery Science Theater 3000 XVI
Dvd Reviews: Film Noir Classics 1 - Dir. by Various
Dvd Reviews: The L-Word: The Complete Final Season
Dvd Reviews: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Box Set
Dvd Reviews: Il Divo - Dir. by Paolo Sorrentino
Film Reviews: The Box - Dir. by Richard Kelly
Film Reviews: The Fourth Kind - Dir. by Olatunde Osunsanmi
Film Reviews: A Christmas Carol - Dir. by Robert Zemeckis
Film Reviews: Gentlemen Broncos - Dir. by Jared Hess
Film Reviews: Inside Hana’s Suitcase - Dir. by Larry Weinstein
Music DVD Reviews: Damon & Naomi - 1001 Nights
Music DVD Reviews: Leonard Cohen & His Army - Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
Music DVD Reviews: Roxy Music - The Story of Roxy Music: More Than This
Dvd Reviews: Orphan [Blu-Ray] - Dir. by Jaume Collet-Serra
Dvd Reviews: G. I. Joe — Season 1.2
Dvd Reviews: The Taking of Pelham 123 - Dir. by Tony Scott
Dvd Reviews: The Narrows - Dir. by Francois Valle
Dvd Reviews: The Answer Man - Dir. by John Hindman
Dvd Reviews: Easy Rider — 40th Anniversary Edition [Blu-Ray] - Dir. by Dennis Hopper
Dvd Reviews: Monsters Vs. Aliens - Dir. by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
Film Reviews: More than a Game - Dir. by Kristopher Belman
Film Reviews: The Collector - Dir. by Marcus Dunstan
Film Reviews: Bronson - Dir. by Nicolas Winding Refn
Dvd Reviews: Vega$: The First Season — Volume 1
Dvd Reviews: Stan Helsing - Dir. by Bo Zenga
Dvd Reviews: Spin City: Season Three
Dvd Reviews: Natural Born Killers — Director’s Cut - Dir. by Oliver Stone
Dvd Reviews: Frownland - Dir. by Ronald Bronstein
Dvd Reviews: Flashpoint: The First Season
Dvd Reviews: Afterwards - Dir. by Gilles Bourdos
Film Reviews: Michael Jackson’s This Is It - Dir. by Kenny Ortega
Film Reviews: Three Blind Mice - Dir. by Matthew Newton
Film Reviews: The September Issue - Dir. by R.J. Cutler
Film Reviews: Astroboy - Dir. by David Bowers
Film Reviews: Amelia - Dir. by Mira Nair
Music DVD Reviews: Various - The Secret Policeman Rocks!
Music DVD Reviews: The Beatles - Rare and Unseen
Music DVD Reviews: The Moody Blues - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970
Music DVD Reviews: All the Way From Michigan Not Mars - Dir. by Matt Boyd
Dvd Reviews: Gigantic - Dir. by Matt Aselton
Dvd Reviews: The Proposal - Dir. by Anne Fletcher
Dvd Reviews: Andy Barker, P.I. The Complete Series
Dvd Reviews: 30 Rock Season 3
Dvd Reviews: High School Record - Dir. by Ben Wolfinsohn
Dvd Reviews: I Love You, Beth Cooper - Dir. by Chris Columbus
Dvd Reviews: Year One - Dir. by Harold Ramis
Dvd Reviews: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies [Blu-Ray] - Dir. by Sam Liu
Dvd Reviews: Dead Snow - Dir. by Tommy Wirkola
Dvd Reviews: Nip/Tuck: Season Five, Part Two
Film Reviews: Taqwacore - Dir. by Omar Majeed
Film Reviews: The Men Who Stare At Goats - Dir. by Grant Heslov
Film Reviews: The Men Who Stare At Goats - Dir. by Grant Heslov
Get It, the long-delayed debut from Toronto, ON mixtape veterans Empire, is a blast from the past, in the best possible way. In a hip-hop landscape increasingly dominated by ringtone music, Empire come through with an album full of hard-charging beats and menacing, hot-spitting, cipher-bred lyri... Full Review
"For people to trust you and believe you, they have to see you a little bit. I'm not afraid to expose myself in that way," says Sara Quin, of sibling duo Tegan and Sara. The petite brunette has just led me into the heart of the east Vancouver jam space where she and her identical twin Tegan are rehearsing for upcoming tours. The room we're in is expansive, chilly and draped in darkness aside from a single strip of light in the middle of the room; she drags a sofa under the wimpy illumination and offers it to me, taking a straight-backed chair opposite for herself. "If we were a genre film," she continues, "we'd be a documentary."... Read More
Check out the hottest new releases in Canada this week, including: 50 Cent Before I Self-Destruct, Boris Japanese Heavy Rock Hits #2 7", Kid Sister Ultraviolet, Norah Jones The Fall, Stereophonics Keep Calm and Carry On... Read More
Viewing the November 2009 Issue: Contents PageNewsClick Hear • Articles --> On the Cover  •  Front Five  •  Points  •  Questionnaire  •  Release Dates  •  Timeline  •  Videogames  •  Conversations • Music Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Aggressive Tendencies  •  Beats & Rhymes  •  Destination Out  •  Frequencies  •  Groove  •  No Future  •  Pop Rocks  •  Wood, Wires & Whiskey  •  Concert Reviews  •  Pop Montreal Reviews • Motion Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Dvd Reviews  •  Film Reviews  •  Music DVD Reviews  •  Videogame Reviews • Music School --> Need to Know  •  What I Play Contests • Contact --> About Us  • Advertising  • Distribution  • Getting Reviewed  • Getting Published  • Letters To The Editor  • Partnerships  • Subscriptions • Exclaim! Radio --> Aggressive Tendencies Radio  • Beats & Rhymes Radio  • Destination Out Radio  • Frequencies Radio  • Groove Radio  • No Future Radio  • Pop Rocks Radio  • Wood, Wires & Whiskey Radio Exclaim! TV • Home & Latest Issue Browse Issues