In America
Jim Sheridan’s beautiful In America is a family drama that moves like life moves, pushing and pulling without warning and engaging our emotions whether we want it or not. The 2002 movie is semi-autobiographical, taking events and characters loosely based around the life of the director and his two daughters, Naomi and Kirsten. In fact, the two Sheridan girls helped write the film’s dynamic and spunky screenplay.
As In America begins, we are introduced to a family of Irish immigrants on their way to the United States via a Canadian tourist visa. My wife and I lamented that they should have stayed in Canada. Paddy Considine is Johnny, the father of the family. He is taking his family to New York City with hopes of becoming an actor. With his wife Sarah (Samantha Morton) and his two daughters, Christy (Sarah Bolger) and Ariel (Emma Bolger) in tow, he packs the crew into an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. The building is occupied by drug dealers and the family is ensconced in poverty from the outset.
There is also a man living in the building known as “the man who screams.” Eventually the family comes to know him as Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) and a relationship develops. The family encounters hardships and struggles with getting over the passing of Frankie, a young son lost to cancer. Johnny and Sarah struggle with the cycles of blame and sadness, moving through life as ghosts. It is only through the vibrancy of their two daughters that they are able to gain some semblance of happiness.
In America is less about the events that occur and the plot progression and more about the characters and how they exist in the world they are in. We learn about Johnny through his interactions with others, through how he deals with his children, through how Ariel looks at him, and through how he discusses things with Mateo. We learn about Sarah in many of the same ways, as she sends her daughters to the ice cream shop so she can “play with daddy,” how she looks at her husband with combinations of love and confusion, and how she exists in her world. Best of all, we learn about the daughters simply by looking into their eyes.
In lesser hands, In America would have slipped headfirst into schlock territory and wouldn’t have recovered. The manipulation would have stained the screen and it would have been a weepy Hollywood melodrama. But in the hands of Jim Sheridan, director of My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, it is a capable, taut, dramatic family story. It has realism, insight, and compassion for its characters. The two young girls are not plot devices or plants intended to look cute. Instead, they are our eyes and our window into the family.
The performances here are excellent. Hounsou has always been a favourite of mine and he does some of his best work here as Mateo. There is a moment, a confrontation between Mateo and Johnny, that I am sure will stand out in my mind as one of the finest moments in cinema history. When Mateo sputters and spits in response to Johnny’s accusation, it is remarkable. He says: “No… I’m in love with you. And I’m in love with your beautiful woman. And I’m in love with your kids. And I’m even in love with your unborn child. I’m even in love with your anger! I’m in love with anything that lives!” What a moment!
Any surprises and any shifts in the film come by way of changes in impression. Characters alter their impressions of one another and change how they “see,” instead choosing clarity over fear. The theme of In America regards the overcoming of loss and tragedy as one of the primary human values that we must keep at all costs. But this is also a movie about overcoming fear. Johnny, Sarah, Mateo, Ariel, and Christy all must do it in order to survive life in Hell’s Kitchen. And we must do it too.
Trailer:
