Golden Door follows the immigration experiences of the Mancuso family, traveling from Italy to the New World, where gold coins fall from the trees, chickens are as big as men and rivers of milk flow freely. At least, that's what these folks have been led to believe. They see America as the land of opportunity and believe they can achieve their dreams, if they can only get there. Salvatore (Vincenzo Amato) is a handsome but poor farmer who wants a better life for himself, his two sons, Angelo (Francesco Casisa) and Pietro (Filippo Pucillo), who is the local oddball and is a deaf mute, and for his mother, the very cranky Fortunata (Aurora Quattrocchi). Together, they embark on a journey to America, with two local girls, Rita and Rosa, in tow.
Interspersed between the scenes of drama or wonderment at the New World are strange and surreal dreams of what I can only assume are Salvatore's musings about what the New World will be like. He has visions of swimming in rivers of milk, of larger than life vegetables, and of coins dropping onto him as he sleeps beneath a tree. These scenes are somewhat jarring and can take one out of the experience of the immigrant family, but also serve to lighten things up a bit.
Lucy Reed (Charlotte Gainsbourg) enters the Mancuso's lives in a very strange way, almost as though she is a spirit floating in, one who doesn't belong, then eventually does. As the Mancuso family is being processed to load onto the boat for the trip, they are sent to take photos as a last step. I assumed these would be passport type photos, but instead, they were the silly type that you stick your head into, much like those found at a theme park. As the family takes their picture, Lucy glides into the picture and then just as quickly, glides out. Salvatore is intrigued by her unusual beauty, with her pale skin and flaming red hair. During the boat trip, they begin an odd courtship of sorts, looking at each other and mouthing hellos. Eventually, Lucy asks Salvatore to marry her so that she can gain entrance into the states and he gladly agrees, knowing the marraige is one of convenience and not love. He is a gentleman, after all, and wishes to help the lady in distress. After a grueling and dangerous boat trip where several are injured and at least one person dies, the group arrives in America. Many of the young girls are married off to mismatched suitors through some deal worked out by a sleaze named Don Luigi (Vincent Shiavelli, Ghost) and Lucy, or "Luce" as Salvatore calls her, is successfully engaged to Salvatore. Sadly, Fortunata and Pietro are not granted access to the US because they are deemed feeble-minded and in Pietro's case, mute. In this pivotal moment, Pietro finally speaks and says that his grandmother told him to go with the family to America to make a new life, because she wanted to go back to the Old Country.
I really never imagined what it must have been like for those immigrating to the US during the turn of the century, but this movie gives some sad but interesting insight into their situations. As the Mancuso family is heading towards the boat to depart, they are bombarded by people trying to sell them "cures" for their ailments. One "doctor" claims the mute Pietro will be deported without this cure. Another touts it as a cure for feet. It's clear that they were merely trying to scam the ignorant immigrants even before they leave their native country. Then, once they arrive in America, they are held and put through grueling tests, both for medical and intellectual fitness, to determine if they are qualified to enter America. How frustrating it must have been to have come that far and then to be rejected.
Overall, Golden Door is a moving film, but it has its slow and strange moments. I enjoyed it, but it is definitely not for everyone. You almost feel as if you are making the journey with them in watching the movie as it is sometimes arduous and sometimes uplifting. Apparently, the film was intriguing enough to catch the eye of Martin Scorcese, who is responsible for bringing this film to America. If you are into foreign films and are curious about the immigration of Italians to America around the turn of the century, you may want to check out Golden Door. The film's director went to great lengths to create a real sense of history and realism (well, in some parts - not the "rivers of milk" part) in what must have been an amazing journey for new residents of America, and it shows.
