Amreeka: Making it Work in America

 By Elle Mastenbrook

Amreeka (2009) is a film about a family that moves from Palestine to the United States, and it is an excellent film that depicts some of the struggles that immigrants from the Middle Eastern region of the world face when they enter the United States. It combines humor with a serious message about acceptance into American life, and overall it is very effective. The movie chronicles Muna and Fadi, a mother and son, and the experiences they have. Here is a brief summary:

The main character, Muna, is a single mother that received a work visa to work in the United States. With encouragement from her son Fadi, she decided to move to the United States. They lived with Muna’s sister upon their arrival. They came to the state of Illinois, which was a huge change from Palestine. Muna got a job at White Castle, but told her family she was working at the bank next door to it because she was too ashamed of her actual employment. Fadi, who was 16, enrolled in school, and had to deal with being the outsider. During the time period that the film is set in, the United States began its war with Iraq. This led to many problems for Fadi. Some of the students at his school were very openly racist, and he got called names and was bullied. Muna and Fadi eventually found their place in their new home, but it wasn’t without difficulty. They had to deal with having an Arab identity in a very patriotic American city, and it took them awhile to find their place. But with the support of their family, and kind strangers, they started to consider America, or in Arabic, Amreeka, to be their home.

This story was very interesting to me, because it was not shy about the racism towards Arabs that existed post-9/11, and at the beginning of the Iraq War. The director and writer, Cherien Dabis, used this film to show viewers the kind of discrimination that they can prevent. It destroyed the binary of the “Other”, and demonstrated that everyone should be treated equally, despite their background. Muna was a very kind woman, and was always trying to make people happy. She bonded with her coworkers at White Castle, which led to some very hilarious moments in the film. Despite her good intentions, she had to deal with ignorance towards her culture. In one part, as seen in the trailer, she was sitting down for an interview, and her interviewer asked her if she was from an Israeli country, and she replied that no, she was Arab. To this he replied, “Don’t blow the place up.” The assumption that all Arabs are terrorists was not uncommon when the film takes place, and there are many Americans today that still believe us.
What many Americans do not realize, however, is that many Arab and Muslim Americans were just as affected by September 11^th as non-Arab and Muslim Americans. They lost friends and family in the attacks, and were very upset by the acts of the terrorists. Robert Stam and Ella Shohat dealt the us/them binary, which came about after the attacks on 9/11. It established all Americans as “us” and all Arabs and Muslims as “them”, or the “Other.” In their preface of their book Flagging Patriotism they explain that not all Arabs are Muslim, and many of them are Christian or Jewish, just like “us.” They also talked about “the border between ‘us’ and ‘them’… is constantly shifting” (Preface xvii). Amreeka dealt with this border by developing the characters of Muna and Fadi in a very thoughtful way. Muna grew through her employment at White Castle, and learned not to be ashamed of certain aspects of her life. Fadi became stronger, and found his identify through standing up to his classmates that harassed him because of his Palestinian heritage. Cherien Dabis did a fantastic job in this movie dealing with the “Other”, and gave a heartwarming tale of overcoming hardships through perseverance, and familial support. This film is a must-see for anyone interested in modern immigration during the aftermath of September 11^th.  

Check out the trailer below...