I saw America America way back when I was a teen and had not seen it since till
today. I was surprised at how much I remembered of it. It was like reliving tales
told by my grandparents and some of their siblings of their immigration stories.
In this case this was fashioned tales of Elia Kazan's parents and their siblings
woven together to create an immigrant story. It's not pretty at times and the
black and white cinematography accents the harshness of the experience.
Kazan's protagonist is young Stathis Giallelis and a few familiar character actors are in the cast. No box office names though to accent the reality of the
story. Giallelis is a Greek in Turkish Anatolia, a place where during the Ottoman Empire persecuting Greeks and Armenians was a national pasttime.
Not that persecution led to any kind of solidarity, the two minorities had it in
for each other as much as the Turks.
Giallelis hears of America, a fabled land where this sort of organized persecution and permanent status at the bottom of society doesn't happen.
He resolves to go, but his family only sends him as far as Istanbul (as Greeks
they still call it Constantinople)to help out one of the relatives.
He hears the fare is 110 English pounds and one way or another he's going.
The last 15 minutes or so is when Giallelis arrives and there's a compelling
montage of immigrants including our protagonist doing all kinds of menial
jobs that we who are here won't do. It's no different today with the current
folks who want to come here, the ones our current administration is bent on
scapegoating for its own purposes. Look folks, that montage tells more than
the Kazan family story. it's your story or mine unless you were born an American Indian.
And speaking for the Kogans, Lucyshyns, Scrobacks, and Fleischmans, I'm glad
Elia Kazan made America America and told the tale.
