SLIFF 2009 Review: AMREEKA

The difficulties faced when the mideast meets the midwest soon after the 9/11 attacks provides the drama in director/writer Cherien Dabis’ new film AMREEKA. From Palestine to White Castle, AMREEKA is a classic American immigrant story that follows the adventures of a heavy-set 40ish woman from her war-torn homeland to suburban Illinois. It’s a story that’s been told countless times and when AMREEKA sticks to the fish-out-of-water elements, it’s a warm and entertaining study of struggle and displacement. Where the film falters is in its narrow-minded and one-dimensional view of mistrusting Americans as racists and hatemongers.

Divorced and discouraged, Palestinian bank employee Muna (Nisreen Faour) scores a green card (it’s not made clear exactly how) and flees the occupied West Bank with her teenaged son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), to move in with her sister Raghda (Hiam Abbass) and her family somewhere 150 miles from Chicago. Unfortunately, calamity strikes immediately, as Muna loses her meager life savings in a mix-up at the airport. When she tries to find employment, despite her experience back home in banking, the only job she can get is slinging burgers at White Castle, a demeaning situation (hey, it beats Fuddruckers!) that she keeps from her family who thinks she’s working at a bank (though wouldn’t she come home obviously smelling like belly bombers?) . Meanwhile Fadi faces racist bullies at his new school, despite his cousin Salma’s (Alia Shawkat) support. As her husband’s medical practice faces a decline in patients—again as a result of prejudice—Raghda increasingly pushes him to return to Palestine, unaware that things have gotten worse there.

Dabis, who based the story on her own life growing up as the daughter of Jordanian immigrants, injects a lot of good humor into AMAREEKA when showcasing the often absurd difficulties of assimilation. Central is a charming performance from actress Nisreen Faour as Muna, who stands at the heart of this tale as a woman who shows surprising grit through her various dilemmas and her interactions with her blue-haired White Castle co-worker are priceless. With the exception of Mr. Novatski (Joseph Ziegler),the kind principal of Fadi’s new school, the suspicious Americans are pure caricatures spewing intolerance clichés. I don’t doubt that there was a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment in America at this point in history, but it seems that Muna and her family are faced with it at every turn (and they’re not even Muslim!) and the plot is packed with too many of these confrontations (a job interviewer says to Muna: “Palestine huh? I suppose you’re gonna blow the place up! Ha ha�) The audience is constantly being lectured to about the evils of racism and the contributions Arabs have made to culture. It doesn’t spoil the film but it’s a bit much and the film is simply better when it focuses on Muna’s journey and her optimism. AMAREEKA is a very good film that made crave White Castle deep-fried falafel burgers!

AMREEKA will screen at the Hi-Pointe on Sunday, November 15th at 1:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.