In America (2002)

Almost every one of us who lives in this the greatest of all democracies owes his or her residency to the immigrant’s dream of finding a better life in the United States. Most of us in the U.S. mainstream think of the arrival of our ancestors upon these shores as an event up to one hundred years or more remote, but In America (2002) brings the newcomer’s hopes and challenges right into the immediate moment. A semi-autobiographical depiction of the arrival of Irish dramatist Jim Sheridan, his gutsy wife, and his two tender daughters upon the shores of New York City, In America is gritty, sentimental fare in the best senses of both those adjectives. The movie touches every immigrant’s offspring in a place and in a way that makes us proud, grateful, and united.