Customer Reviews

America America [VHS]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first seen this extraordinary movie while I was behind the Iron Curtain, holding no hope to be a free man...a Stavros like millions others. Little that I knew at the time that my dream would come through and one day I would be an American, almost the same way as the protagonist of this masterpiece. Forgive my obvious bias, do yourself a favor and see this movie.

I still can't figure out why this film is not on DVD yet while so much absolute tripe is. Which lobby, which studio exec is denying the public this remarkable film? It is a bit long, but that just means you can hit the pause button and get yourself another cup of Uzo!

I myself like Stavros the hero of 'America america' set upon an adventure filled with hardship and pain and found salvation in America. You see this film is one of the most underated pieces of cinema ever to pass through a film reel, and finding a copy ( especially in England) is akin to a herculian task. It took me several months to find out it was never released over here under its origional title and was never released on video. So i set my sights across the pond and found it on amazon. This is my tale.
Thankfully stavros's tale is more entertaining than mine and Kazan is more skillful in his presentation of it than I of mine. Kazan tells the personnal tale of his uncles journey from turkey to america. kazan excells when working from his own experiences and this film is no exception. kazan really understands the leads plight and his emotional connection shines through and rubs off on the viewer, you cant help but be affected by his plight.
The film is espesially relevant now in the uk, as our newspapers are clogged with biased debates on britains liberal imergration laws, i wish there waas a national re-release of this picture so to educate people on the truth behind many refugees, it creates a true sympathy that would be as moving today as then.
Critically this film did well and many directors such as scorsese rate it as inspirational, but it isnt a well known film and that upsets me, so buy it and love it and make me happy
And you can now buy it on region 2 dvd from amazon in france.

An amazing epic journey, filled with deep emotion, desire, and the longing a century ago for a Greek youth in Ottoman Turkey to beat all odds and come to America. As he put it, "I have been beaten, robbed, stabbed and left for deat. I have eaten the Sultan's garbage and fought off dog's to get at it." It is a universal story, an epic one, and a great motion picture too, perhaps one of the best, and it is the story of Elia Kazan's life. But for the fact that Kazan was banished from the industry for "naming names," for being a "police informer," this picture no doubt would have won many Oscars, including best picture of the year. But "Tom Jones" beat it out --a wonderful picture too, but not anywhere near Kazan's "America America" for insight, depth, and a real claim to an American hisory --the story of what America was all about to those "wretched refuse of your teaming shore" in 1900. Five stars and five stars more.

A cinematic "splendor" at the hands of the master Elia Kazan. The Odyssey of an immigrant who survives the barbarities of Muslim Turks and makes it to America in spite of all the odds.

This is a marvelously captured narrative based on Kazan's own family. The film stands among the the best that Hollywood has offered. So why hasn't it come out on DVD yet? Kazan's opus should be available on DVD and should be be acclaimed everywhere for its brilliance. Hollywood needs to set aside its left wing politics and let film people do their work unhindered by petty politics.

Kazan's depiction of Stavros's flight from Turkish brutality in the early part of this century strikes a stark portrait of the essence of survival. When Armenians and Greeks were being driven out by genocidal methods by the Turks in the years of 1915-1922, Kazan's hero is an example of the few that made it to a land where one could start over. That land as so lovingly reffered to by tens of thousands of immigrants was and still is America.The soundtrack is great, Kazan's direction is haunting, and the message is searing. A film with universal appeal. Bravo.

Why, on Amazon, can you find Nazi propaganda films such as "Triumph of the Will" for about $20, but you cannot find a copy of "America,America" for less than about $61? The fact that it has not been released yet on DVD is very curious...
The film is a powerful telling of the family story of one of the greatest American directors. You cannot understand Kazan's love for America without seeing this film.

This film came as a surprise to me. It was very riveting -- including the story and the scenery. It had an almost biblical feel. I was reminded of Meetings with Remarkable Men (Gurdjieff) at times. It is a thought provoking study of the human spirit and survival.

When is the DVD coming out in America?!
I can't believe I am seeing it, my 98 year old mother-in-law said, it is like total recall. She said I lived through that and even saw a church being torched full of men, women and children. The Turks, she said, killed the remaining Christian men and boys in my city. In my father-in-law's large city of Maras, some 99% of the Christians were killed or "deported", most to the dry Syrian desert by 1921, or the lucky few excaped at night south to Syria as did my father-in-law after his parents and all siblings but one were slaughtered (he was 15 then). The major murders of the Christians occurred beginning in April 1915 to 1916 and again in Jan. 1920 - some few thousand managed to excape to Syria. And the Turks until this day say there was never genocide.
See Dr. Stanly Kerr's "Lions of Marash" book (1973)whose book varified these episodes and more.

This film is a neglected Kazan masterpiece. Shot in a verite style with a
brilliant cast, this deeply felt work recreates the exotic world of Kazan's
grandfather, and his yearning for a good life in America. Highly
recommended.