In America

In America, the film by Jim Sheridan did create a lot of Oscar flutter. It reminds me of the emotional, goody goody Malayalam movies, where the successful run of the movie depends on how much tears the director is able to jerk out of the audience and in the end everything ends with a happy family union.

It shows the plight of a young Irish family, parents and two li'l girls who had illegaly immigrated to US, living in Hell's Kitchen, New York, and their new life as seen through the eyes of the girls. It will(did) go well with the audience because the girls really cute, you can empathize with them more than you can empathize with a Mexican family of 7, their dirty sacks and five grimy brown kids of all sizes.

I found the ending extremely artificial, where the older girl tells her dad "say goodbye to Frankie, Dad". You'll have to watch the movie to know the context, but it is not at all a dialog a ten year old would say no matter how mature she is.