SOMEONE ELSE'S AMERICA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
SOMEONE ELSE'S AMERICA is a good natured, but plotless show about the plight of illegal immigrants in America today. Although it shows a lot of potential, little of it is realized, and the show operates in a narrow range. The acting is earnest, but monochromatic, and I did not find any of the characters believable. The characters are certainly charming and energetic, but they are not real.
The movie is set in New York City, but the spunky illegal immigrants fighting for their existence in the underground economy could be almost anywhere in the US. A Montenegro immigrant named Bayo (Miki Manojlovic) and his buddy Alonso (Tom Conti), an immigrant from Spain, work cleaning up toxic waste sites. They live in squalor in common quarters among and on pieces of junk. Nevertheless, through all of their hardships, their resolve shines through.
To show his courage against these difficulties, Bayo says, "Did I ever tell you the story of my people? We no surrender." He listens to English language tapes all of the time and actually his English is pretty good.
Alonso is more of a worry wart. His view is that, "This is USA of America. This is the place where if you work hard, and you worry. You can be anything you want." He has the problem that he is love with someone who ignores him and says, "I got no luck in America. I never gonna get married."
The cinematography by George Arvanitis is generally unimaginative except for the outdoor scenes where he creates carefully contrived images. Some of the effective ones include the zooming out from the Statue of Liberty as the police sirens get louder and the picture of the NYC skyline at dusk with a cemetery in the foreground. The best, and only truly moving scene in the film, happens on the Rio Grande, and the photography adds to its effectiveness.
The script by Gordan Mihic and the pace set by director Goran Paskaljevic meanders. With a show where little happens, there needs to be more tension and more character development, but they rely too much on props to carry the picture along. Alonso, for example, drives a beat-up pickup truck with a fake bull on the top that has eyes that light up at night and the side of the truck proclaims in bright letters, "Paradiso."
Other than having the characters talk about their holy grail - getting a green card - the script finds little to say. The low point of the film is a unbelievable sequence where Alonso tricks his blind and ill mother (Maria Casares) into believing they are flying all the way back to Spain by playing a tape of a jet on a boom box while they set in a seat taken out of a car.
Except for an interesting and unusual minor character who played a Texas good old boy who helps the immigrants across the border, I thought the cast's acting was acceptable but no better. I like the idea of the story, but not this execution. Tom Conti is an actor that can be excellent as he was in REUBEN, REUBEN and SHIRLEY VALENTINE, but generally seems to deliver performances without any depth as he does here. Perhaps he needs just the right director to realize his potential.
SOMEONE ELSE'S AMERICA runs 1:36. It is rated R, but there is no nudity, no violence, little bad language, and only the start of sex. I would have given it a PG-13, and it would be fine for any kid over 10. As a gentle demonstration of the melting pot still in action, the show works, but overall, there is not enough for me to recommend it. I give it **.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: May 20, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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