The Golden Door

Somewhere in barren Sicily at the turn of the century, a man is waiting for a sign: should he uproot his family and leave for America?
The answer comes when Salvatore Mancuso (this is his real  name) catches a glimpse of fake promotional postcards from America, showing giant onions and bushes growing golden coins.
He soon leaves with his two sons and his old, superstitious mother.

Two girls from the village join the emigrants in the hope of finding a husband in the New World. On the ship Salvatore meets Lucy, an enigmatic and aristocratic Englishwoman, and a strange attraction grows between the two.

Upon their arrival on Ellis Island, the passengers go through the bizarre tests the US government  have deemed necessary to see if newcomers are fit to walk on the American land.
Not everyone makes it; the lucky ones swim in a mythical river of milk, heading towards a new life.

This third work by Emanuele Crialese, who enchanted the audience four years ago with Grazia’s Island, is an emotional and intense visual experience, thanks to Agnès Godard’s refined photography.
The story has the structure of a triptych (the village; the ship; Ellis Island) and relies more on the actors’ glances and movements than dialogue.

A brave choice, but also the main fault of this ambitious film: the characters never really come alive – as the poster suggests, they are mere chess pieces in a bigger game.
Crialese had already shown a penchant for this kind of  “archetypical”  figures in his previous film; but whereas Grazia’s Island’s story could bear the status of universal legend, The Golden Door is drenched in history and touches political themes  like immigration and tolerance.

The only meaty character is grumpy Fortunata, but the rest of the Mancuso family is too querulous to sympathize with.
Better to focus on the poetic, dream-like images and on the surreal visions of plenty occupying Salvatore’s mind.

Rating

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