Amreeka (2009)

Director:

Cherien Dabis

Writer (WGA):

Cherien Dabis (written by)

Release Date:

17 June 2009 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Life's best adventures are journeys of the heart.

Plot:

A drama centered on an immigrant single mother and her teenage son in small town Illinois. |

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Nisreen Faour	...	Muna Farah
Melkar Muallem	...	Fadi Farah
Hiam Abbass	...	Raghda Halaby
Alia Shawkat	...	Salma
Jenna Kawar	...	Rana Halaby
Selena Haddad	...	Lamis Halaby
Yussuf Abu-Warda	...	Nabeel Halaby
Joseph Ziegler	...	Mr. Novatski
Andrew Sannie	...	James
Daniel Boiteau	...	Mike
Brodie Sanderson	...	Matt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aaron Hughes	...	Police Officer #1
Arne MacPherson	...	Mike's Dad
Craig Matthews	...	Police officer #2
Vanessa Mayberry	...	Sammy
Mike O'Brien	...	Bank Manager #1
Adriana O'Neil	...	Female Bank Manager
Bradley Sawatzky	...	Parkton Bank Manager
Kristen Sawatzky	...	Female Official
Glen Thompson	...	Nelson
Will Woytowich	...	US Airport Customs Official

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief drug use involving teens, and some language.

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #45380) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Canada:14A (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Ramallah, Palestine

Company:

First Generation Films

Bit of a clods eye view of a hill of beans

An interesting film. I think the film explores the idea that sometimes folk are unfairly persecuted for their ethnic backgrounds in new countries. That happens to Arabs now in North America but it has happened to many not Arabic immigrants in North America in the past also. I also think that the effects of war in the Arab world are only now being seen easily on the street level in the sense that now there are many Arabs living in places that have never seen an Arabic person until recently. Is that a 'racist' comment? Its not like Islam is an oppressive religion or anything, they are very open and not sexist.Not. Well, I suppose there are those who are more easygoing than others. Nonetheless and quite frankly, things were bad enough without someone from a country still in the middle ages in terms of its social structure being in a position to judge me and alter the direction of anything in my life, in my homeland of North America. Thats racism? Well, that situation couldn't even be remotely possible if things had been dealt with properly-in a not violent way pertaining to the situation of weapons of mass confusion in the Iraq of post 9/11. I can talk with politeness with someone who is from an Arabic country but I will never really trust them. That is truth, not racism, based on empirical observation of two 110 story buildings crashing down killing 3000 people. Don't say it doesn't matter.