My local librarian – a young man of Italian descent – suggested I watch a DVD titled Golden Door about a Sicilian family immigrating to America in 1904.
The 2006 Italian film, originally titled Nuovomondo, has an introduction by Mob-filmmaker Martin Scorsese who no doubt loved the film’s depressing portrayal of Sicily. The writer/director Emanuele Crialese was inspired to make the film by a visit to Ellis Island. A third of the movie details how immigrants were vetted there by U.S. authorities, a far cry from today’s lax standards.
The first two parts depict the poverty of Sicily at the time and the storm-tossed journey across the Atlantic. The Italian filmmaker spends 30-minutes painting such a bleak picture of Sicily and its culture that Sicilians could have found paradise in Afghanistan or Haiti. The opening scene has two men with stones in their mouths (a Biblical command?) climbing barefoot up a rocky mount to seek guidance from a patron saint at the summit. Their burning question: go to America or leave their Sicilian hell hole?
Life was tough in the Old World and often unbearable. So why are immigrants always deemed ‘courageous’ for leaving? Are the millions from 160 foreign countries who are now slipping through our non-existent southern border courageous? Golden Door has some lessons for us.
In the film, departing Sicilian migrants are screened by Italian doctors for diseases and disabilities that would bar them from entering America. This is a fact, and Italian immigrants had a low rejection rate at Ellis Island because of this. Once arriving, American doctors and officials put all the immigrants through the ringer physically and mentally – no feeble-minded allowed in. Single women had to choose a male ‘financée’ and marry him before leaving Ellis Island to prevent shady ladies from entering the country. Writer Crialese did his homework. As the film’s director he personally chose the 700 extras to match the faces and expressions he saw in Ellis Island photos. He intentionally omitted the inspiring Statue of Liberty so as not to detract from the grueling process the U.S. had back then.
Migrants today merely need to pay a Mexican cartel or coyote to breech our “border.” No papers, no physicals, no mental tests, no vaccine mandates, no masks, no means of support, and no moral guidelines. To think that some folks compare this free-for-all to the gauntlet our ancestors were required to run. And the only perk the U.S. government provided our folks was a free boat ride to Manhattan – no welfare, no food stamps, no hotel rooms.
Today’s illegal migrations target both the United States and Western nations including Australia. Last week the Italian island of Lampedusa, close to Africa, was overwhelmed by 8,000 illegals. (The island’s Italian population is only 6,000!) Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for a naval blockade by the EU of Tunisia, the point of departure for illegals from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Tunisia isn’t living up to the $1 billion deal it made with the EU to stop the boat traffic.
Like the U.S. Italy is taking the brunt of the invasions by illegals. France has already told Italy and the EU that it will not accept Italy’s illegals. Assimilation is not playing out well in Europe.
While the Western World is choking on illegals, Pope Francis is urging it to accept any and all migrants. Even obedient Catholics must wonder how far Christian charity can be rationally extended. How many illegals can Vatican City take in? Can the Pope press Red China, Russia, and Brazil to open wide their doors?
Clearly, the word is out to 7 billion earthlings that the Western World is free for the taking. No need to fix their own countries by overthrowing dictators, weeding out corruption, or controlling religious fanaticism. Come here and we will bend all our rules for you. Hollywood will put your failed culture on a pedestal. You might even get a national holiday to celebrate whatever little thing your heritage has given to humanity.
And feel free to denounce Columbus for opening the New World. -JLM
Pat Buchanan called it the suicide of the West years ago. He couldn’t have been more right.
Really that was a terrible movie, yes times were tough, but mass migration from Italy occurred after unification and major changes in economic, social, and political relationships took place. It was what it was and is what it is…..people had to adjust and they marched with their feet. The Italian government of the time was unable to stop the flow and loss of their citizens. The movie made these migrants almost subhuman, which was just a terrible character assassination and plain wrong. In fact, many immigrants returned to Italy, trying to figure out how best to survive in a unified nation.
In the same way, migration today is the product of similar dynamics. I don’t have any answers to this mess but trying to get better control of the borders is just one part of the political dynamics…especially with regard to Central America, US foreign policy had a hard time supporting economic reform in Central America. Trying to promote change through the entrenched oligarchies just won’t work, and people are marching with their feet once more. And from the good old days, we will probably take a lesson from the past, and adopt legislation such as the 1924 immigration act that shut migration from Southern Europe to a trickle.
There is a “social karma” at play, and almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. Consider just one instance…family planning, the US can not even provide information about ways to curb soaring populations due to the entrenchment of the Religious Right in this country, and so families with 6 or 7 children, are left with bleak choices. We can provide all the arms a government wants but foreign aid for family planning is immoral?????
There are complex reasons why people are marching with their feet, but supporting the status quo, isn’t going to change anything, and trying to throw out corrupt governments also has to meet the “litmus test” set by the US, and that ain’t easy either. None of these activities exist in a vacuum, and trying to look for regional solutions needs honest and frank discussions….not going to happen, we can’t even talk about Slavery in this country without the roof falling in and books being banned…we like black and white analogies, and shades of gray and duplicity are just not tolerated.
Not only are the ‘huddled masses’ anxious to come here but their governments see every illegal as a source of U.S. dollars. Once upon a time the Italian budget depended on millions of dollars in remittances from America. But these funds came from LEGAL Italian immigrants.
I am very sorry to say there are too many people like Martin Scorsese in the Italian American community. Sicily is a beautiful place and a very rich culture. Yes, it had a lot of poverty, but it had for the most part hardworking population with lasting values. There is perfect place and each place then and now had serious problems.
Look at own history. I feel sorry for those who cannot see our Italian heritage as a treasure.
Sicily is a region with 5 million people. There were 30 murders in 2021 and 31 in 2020.
To put things in perspective, there were 800 murders in Chicago in 2021 and 149 murders in Atlanta.
When it comes to the South of Italy and Italians, always look at the numbers. The perception from movies and TV show is 90% wrong.