Nuovomondo, also known as The Golden Door, is a 2006 film directed by Emanuele Crialese that focuses on Italian immigration in a surrealistic fashion. The visuals of the film help encompass the struggles that the immigrants are going through to better convey the emotions that they were feeling.

When Crialese was interviewed and asked about the scene with the steamship in the harbor, Crialese responded with saying, “I actually made the film around that image. I had a clear, easy image in my mind coming from a precise sensation I wanted to evoke. A sensation of land opening–one piece of land going to another. ” Here, it is obvious that Crialese liked to use visual imagery in Nuovomondo to tell the story instead of have exposition through dialogue or other means. At its heart, Nuovomondo is a film about a family trying to make a better life for themselves and for generations to come. Crialese found that this best way to express their journey was by showing it. This is somewhat problematic though because simply showing linear events would not capture how the characters were actually feeling. Crialese found a creative solution to this by generating a surreal mise en scène throughout many parts of the film.

By having scenes that seemed almost ethereal at times, the audience could travel along with the family and experience their hardships in travel as they might have. A strong example of this is seen in the recurring imagery of the giant sea of milk. The family and other characters in the film would be swimming in a vast sea of milk which symbolized both their travel, their hope for future wealth and the sheer collective bond that the immigrants felt with each other. This scene was also used for closing the film and it helped bind the film together from a narrative standpoint. While the milk scenes would occur, there would be anachronistic music playing in the background. The music is symbolic in the idea that people today still experience similar feelings that these characters did. The promise of a better life and the desire for wanting a better life is something that many can still relate to. Below is an image of the family in the sea of milk.

Another quintessential scene in is in the beginning of the film is with the “propaganda” pictures of America. In these pictures are images of Americans with obscenely large pieces of fruits and vegetables. The images had a comical appearance because of the gargantuan size of said fruits and vegetables but these images actually had a great deal of importance to the film. When the soon to be immigrants were viewing these pictures they were in awe. They saw these pictures and felt hope. Here is a surreal image of giant fruit.

The imagery and production of Nuovomondo make it a remarkable film. The aesthetics that bolster surrealism provide a commentary of Italian immigration. They convey the feelings of human desires that normal dialogue and realistic scene visuals would not be able to do. Emanuele Crialese wants the audience to establish a connection with the characters in the film. He brings us to Ellis Island with them and makes us feel their struggles as they journey through an endless sea in hopes of a better life.

Source for the interview: http://www.newyorkcool.com/archives/2007/May/interview_Golden_Door.htm