This film is based on a true story, directed by Jim Sheridan (who is also a great Irish film director), father of Kristen Sheridan, who directed 2007's "August Rush", with his wife and two daughters in 1982 . It is a film about several years of difficult immigration life by illegally entering the United States together. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2002, and was accepted by all, but lost to the world-famous director Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation (2002) - Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansson". However, it has received numerous nominations and awards in other fields as well (3 at the Academy: for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor).
A couple (Johnny and Sarah), a married couple (Johnny and Sarah) living in Ireland with their three children (Christy, Frankie, and Ariel), were living as a theater actor and wife doing housework. Unfortunately, they lost their 5-year-old son, Frankie, to a brain tumor. After spending a lot of money for their son's illness, the family's life becomes difficult and they try to smuggle through Canada to the United States. The couple's eldest daughter, Christy, has the idea that her brother Frankie will grant her three wishes for her family. When crossing the border between the United States and Canada, Christy makes her first wish that her family will cross the border safely. Was it because of this? The family safely crosses the border and heads for New York City.
Being poor, they rent a shabby apartment in Hell's Kitchen in the south of Manhattan. Raising two daughters in an apartment for drug addicts, transvestites and extremely poor people isn't easy, but that's how immigrants' first lives in New York often begin. Her husband was originally Roman Catholic, but after the death of his son, he loses faith in God and that grief also affects his relationship with his family. The wife, who is saddened by this, comforts him and rebukes him strongly, trying to get him to stand upright. As planned, her husband auditioned to become a theater actor, but no one hires him because of his acting, a reflection of his past dark life. Her wife gets a job at a local ice cream shop where she can see her kids up close. Although life is difficult, Johnny and Sarah overcome the difficult days of illegal immigration with the happy energy of their two daughters. These two daughters gradually brighten and brighten the gloomy and dark atmosphere of the entire apartment. Families who are slowly settling down in New York sometimes have a good time. Even at a nearby carnival, Johnny accidentally made a fortune by throwing a ball to pay his rent - this time Christy made a second wish to Frankie. The whole family goes to see ET movies as well.
In this apartment lives a young artist named Mateo from Nigeria. However, he is a person who has no communication with the people around him. This extremely closed young man - as did the others in this apartment - opens the door little by little with the happy energy that Ariel and Christy radiate. Johnny also becomes friends with Johnny's family, but for some reason he doesn't like him - after a very candid conversation with Mateo one day, the two become very close friends. What Johhny learned at this time was that Mateo was battling AIDS, and it was very difficult to cure it. As you can see from the conversation between Johnny and Mateo, Mateo's will to live is very strong.
Johnny:
Do you wanna be me?
Do you wanna be in my place?
Mateo:
I wish.
Johnny:
Are you in love with her?
Are you in love with her?
Mateo:
No.
I'm in love with you.
And I'm in love with your beautiful woman.
And I'm in love with your kids.
And I'm even in love with your unborn child.
I'm even in love with your anger!
I'm in love with anything that lives!
Johnny:
You're dying... I'm sorry.
One winter day, as they watch children play in the snow, Mateo and Johnny share a short story of life and death. A life that is not afraid of death - whether you have something or not, a life that ends like this is probably the most enviable life.
Mateo: (panting) I was just out of breath.
What was Frankie like?
Johnny: A warrior.
Mateo: Maselu masala.
Johnny: What does that mean?
Mateo: A warrior who is not afraid to go to the other side.
Johnny: The other side of what?
Mateo: This.
Eventually, news comes that the couple is pregnant with their third child, or even their fourth child. But they can't just be happy. In addition to the guilt of not having saved Frankie before, Johnny is unable to release the dead child in his heart. So he is very pessimistic about the new baby. This also leads to a big fight with his wife. In addition, the couple's conflict deepens because of the hospital bills they have to pay when a new child is born while Johnny does not have a fixed income due to a situation in which Johnny is still unable to settle down as a theater actor and drives a taxi.
Still, a child is born. Although he was unable to pay the hospital bills for the difficult-to-be-born baby, his neighbor Mateo, who was battling AIDS, pays tens of thousands of dollars for the hospitalization of the newly born Sheridan family instead of his own treatment. But he dies the day the new child is born.
The first night they bring their new baby home, the Johnnys have a modest party with their apartment neighbours. At the end of the party, the whole family looks at the moon on the veranda and thinks of Mateo as the whole family looks at the moon, and also thinks of another son he lost in Ireland to a brain tumor - remembering the loved ones who had left before and letting them go from the heart. . Christy uses Frankie's third wish for her father, who can't let her son die in her heart . For Ariel who is sad that he can't even say goodbye to Mateo, Johnny and Christy say goodbye to mateo together saying that Mateo will fly to the sky like ET. At this time, Christy tells her dad to say goodbye to Frankie as well.
Christy: Say good-bye to Frankie, Dad.
Johnny: What?
Christy: Say good-bye to Frankie.
Johnny: (whispering) Bye, Frankie.
Christy: He can't hear you, Dad.
Johnny: Bye, Frankie.
It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but was not nominated for Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, but did receive considerable attention and awards at other film awards.
I've been seeing people trying to escape life or death in Afghanistan over the last few days. Naturally, the topic of immigration never leaves my mind.
For those who need a warm family story, this is a must-watch.
(below: a trailer)
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