MovieChat Forums > Amreeka (2009) Discussion > A Question for you all...

A Question for you all...

posted 14 years ago by surge3
16 replies | jump to latest

I Enjoyed this movie, but it got me thinking...are the majority of people in America still acting this way towards people of middle-eastern descent? I don't think so, but that may just be where I live.

I mean sure you have the odd bigot every once in awhile -- who is either too old, or too ignorant to change, but I think that most people, especially younger generations of people (~25 and younger), are mostly tollerant and will keep an open mind towards, well anything really.

As for the movie, I thought it was great but it needs a better ending.
The characters were VERY believable, likable, and the acting was very amazing even for a limited budget movie. I thought the beginning was a bit too long and this time could have been better spent on a decent ending.

[–] alissaeabha 14 years ago

I was watching this movie and thinking to myself "yeah, I remember the bigotry in this country was getting bad for a while. It has improved an INCH since this movie." I thought about it some more and I know that on a day to day basis, I am not noticing such blatant acts and voices of hate towards people of Middle Eastern descent. Believe me, I was keeping track of it after 9/11. I was 15 and I was disgusted by the majority of people in my own country.
However, I don't think that's an excuse to think that the ability of our national mindset to quickly set back into such blatantly hateful ways of thinking are not possible (we sure have subtle bigotry and racism down to a T and it's foolish to ignore that). As a country, we always seem to cure the symptoms, but never the problem. Also, there are still lots of Middle Eastern people (and pretty much everyone) still struggling to live their lives in peace here.
This movie was a fantastic insight into what people's lives were like during that wretched year. I was impressed.
I do agree that the beginning could have been shortened a bit, and the end should have gave the audience a little more insight into what was happening with the family.
Good movie though.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] badmofo6662004 14 years ago

Really? I thought is was pretty realistic. The note may have been just a tad over the top. But I imagine that most Arabs that receive notes like that do exactly what was done in the movie; not report it.

Everything else seemed very realistic. I live in a small town in Ohio, and if an Arab went to my high-school, I'm confident that he would get hazed and end up getting in a few fights (just like everyone else). When talking about Arabs the word "sand n*g**r" would be used quite often (not to mention just "n*g**r"). And in one of my classes, we had to do a presentation on how the problems in the middle-east should be solved, and one group presented a map with the middle-east colored blue, saying that it should be nuked and the desert turned to glass. So yeah, I don't see an Arab high-schooler getting into a couple fights unrealistic at all.

If you're talking about the airport scene, that was realistic as well. I'm a Caucasian U.S. citizen, and even I've been taken back to one of those rooms coming back from vacation. They searched all my stuff, and took my fruit and alcohol. Apparently, you are only allowed 3 bottles of alcohol, and you are not allowed to bring fruit back into the country for ecosystem reasons?

I also imagine it's hard to get a job in banking if you don't speak English extremely well. Actually, I imagine it's hard to get a job in banking regardless.

Other than that, I'm not sure what you regarded as a distortion.

Edit: Damn censorship. Makes feel like I'm living in 1984 (the novel).

[–] SanityLapse 14 years ago

I also live in a smaller town, and there was an Arab guy around here who kept getting harassed by a select few people, and he ended up moving away. This was probably around the same time that this movie took place. It's a shame. Luckily, most people aren't like that. However, the few that do these things stand out the most. This movie was the same way. Most of the people acted nice to her, but the ones that didn't had the largest impact initially.

---
I know what gold does to men's souls.

[–] Barbourino 14 years ago

I agree with you. I haven't even watched this movie yet (just reading reviews before I watch it) and I am expecting there to be some gross exaggeration. Personally I think if Arabs don't like it in the USA, then they should just pack up and go back home. In all honesty, and I don't mean to be mean, but let's face it Americans don't want Arabs (especially Muslims) in their country anymore than Arabs want Americans over populating the middle east.

[–] activista 13 years ago

Newsflash--Muslims have been in this country for over a hundred years--especially here in the Detroit area, which has the largest pop. of Arabs outside the Middle East. BTW, they go to school, work, pay taxes, and just like everyday regular folks. I see young Muslim women with their veils all over the school I go to, and it's not just Arabs who are Muslims, BTW---they're also African American and East Indian. It's not about whether Arabs (or Arab-Americans) like it in the U.S., it's that they get hassled just for being Arab due to stereotypes about all Muslims being terrorists---and yeah, it happens here. I do think that the hearings being held by this Peter King, who I feel just wants to make a name for himself, are ridiculous, because exactly what will these hearings do that Homeland Security hasn't already been doing for the last 9 years? Just seems like a waste of time to me.

[–] bite_me_loser_86 12 years ago

Arabs are overpopulating America? Really? Show me some stats.

[–] canadamelody 13 years ago

Not true it was a very bad time and mostly from government harrassment. Things are better now.

[–] pfarnell 11 years ago

Id agree with this, as a major critique of the movie in fact.

It is in fact close to a cardboard cutout villification of Americans,
while showcasing a very sanitized cutout of an Arab immigrant family, apart from the sisters savage badmouthing of her own husband.

What if the family HAD been both muslim, and pro Islamic terrorists in their attitudes ??
Which actually, in the classroom scenes, they do express a very Arab partisan view of what drives terrorism, ie,
they see it as real victimhood and nothing much beyond that.

Does the film ignore in fact, a lot of typicalness of many other Arab imiigrants to the West in general?

and instead present us with virtual models.

[–] flimflamsam 14 years ago

I'll speak on my situation, which is a tad odd. I'm Indian, and christian, I was 15 when 911 went down and things got so crazy I used to carry a knife with me for about a year afterwords,well it wasn't really a knife, it was a tool for ceramics class mostly used in the creation of bongs. the xenophobic hate crimes really messed with brown peoples heads, no way was i willing to take the chance that some moron would realize i'm not arab. i never got harassed personally but i heard many people including friends just saying super ignorant things like "bomb em all" and such. i remember some Sikh man getting murdered because he was wearing a turban. Things have mellowed considerably but things are still bad, I remember they did a dateline show "what would you do" about some actors fake harassing some arab lady and peoples reaction to it, some people ignored, some people encouraged, and others stood up for her. i think thats just how it's going to be now. the media really plays a part in the demonization of a whole group of people.
funny story, i'm a lazy dude who hates shaving, so i was flying to london one summer full beard fully knowing the attention i'm going to get at MIA, so I try to dress as native as possible, which to me is my checkerboard vans, dwyane wade jersey, and saggy ass dickie shorts. surprisingly i wasn't bothered, but when i got on the plane and saw a bunch of obvious muslims i was kinda freaked out, all the while i bet everyone was looking at me thinking the same thing lol. yea so thats my little rant.

laughs are cheap, I'm going for gasps

[–] Mor_Oghma 14 years ago

nice story, i hate to shave too and i end up looking like a taliban.
my family keeps teasing me about it.
they're all staunchly catholic, without even knowing what it means...

Mor

[–] maxloh-1 14 years ago

I live in a liberal California environment and it's all I've ever known. I laughed at the scenes where the belligerent white boys were harassing the mom in the restaurant, because it was so unrealistic and forced. Just like those movies where they try to portray an image of high school or college -- way too caricatured! However, based on everyone else's responses, it seems like this is actually kind of plausible in less "developed" states such as Illinois. I guess I am kind of racist in my own way since I just dissed Illinois.

http://www.maxloh.com/

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] atrapforfools 14 years ago

I've never witnessed or heard tale of any actual "attacks" but where I live, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim beliefs are held pretty tightly. The high-schoolers in the film are an exaggeration, but not that far off from reality.

[–] cmeyer38 12 years ago

The problem is, high schoolers will find some reason to diss someone else, no matter anyone's religion or race. I substitute teach in small farm-town high schools in the midwest where 99% of the students are white and they still find a reason to diss someone else. It could be that someone is fat or a nerd, or whatever. They will find a reason.

[–] dagaul101 13 years ago

The characters were believable and you fell in love with them straightaway, obviously some of the scenarios were drawn from real life experiences, so it is unfortunate people still think like thatSource:Amreeka Moviehttp://moviereviews.noskram.com/2010/01/amreeka-movie