Steamy Streaming

BY: Zak Wojnar

America is a nation built by immigrants. Sometimes, the descendants of those immigrants wear “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” shirts while championing the President’s inane ambition to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. In a time when the reality of a refugee’s plight and flight from their native lands is all over the news, PROVOKR recommends five shows about the USA’s immigrants, America’s X factor which makes us exceptional; a shining city on a hill, different from other nations.

En El Séptimo Día

Historically, New York City has been the setting of many immigrant stories, from the old days when the “tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free” would enter by boat through the majestic sight of Ellis Island to now, where New York is referred to as the “melting pot,” a place where global culture comes to transmogrify into the growing gumbo of Americana. En El Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day) follows a group of latino youths who work six days a week and play soccer, their religion, on the seventh day. A 21st century version of The American Dream, this film highlights the humanity and hard work which lie at the heart of any immigrant story. These aren’t “dangerous brown people,” they’re human beings. Catch this one on HBO starting tonight.

West Side Story

One of the greatest films of all time (even if some die-hard purists still wrongly insist that Richard Beymer was miscast as Tony), this Broadway adaptation shows the star-crossed romance between Tony and Maria (Natalie Wood), two lovebirds caught up in the interracial gang feud between the white Jets and the latino Sharks. The songs are timeless, the rumble is shocking, and the technicolor photography is still an unmatched display of mesmerizing spectacle. Simply put, West Side Story is one of the all-time greats, equally realistic and fantastical in its depiction of the danger and magic of New York City.

Gangs of New York

Long before ISIS was courting idiot teens via YouTube, Irish Catholics and Protestants were murdering each other in the streets for no reason. Of course, there’s a lot more at play in Martin Scorsese‘s mid-1800s Manhattan epic, including labor upheavals caused by the end of the Civil War and the lingering fear of conscription into the armed forces. There’s almost too much movie here, but it’s centered around a stellar cast (Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, John C. Reilly) and some of the most amazing production design of all time. There are few historical settings so flawlessly recreated as a New York City that doesn’t exist anymore.

In America

Writer/director Jim Sheridan is best known for his collaborations with Daniel Day-Lewis (The Boxer, My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father), but arguably his best film is In America, a low-key family drama about an Irish family living in New York City during the 1980s. The film was nominated for three Oscars, including acting nods for Djimon Hounsou and Samantha Morton. Sadly, In America is one of those awards-season favorites which inexplicably disappears once the season is over, which is a shame, considering its palpable emotional impact and amazing acting performances. Perhaps it didn’t help that Sheridan’s next film was the infamously terrible 50 Cent vehicle, Get Rich or Die Tryin‘.

Sin Nombre

Apart from silver mines which dried up centuries ago, Honduras is a country with little in the way of natural resources, aside from fertile farmland which has been exploited by American corporations for generations. It’s a beautiful country with lush greenery, high mountains, plunging waterfalls, and people who just want to live their lives in peace. Unfortunately, outside forces have prevented that simple goal from being accomplished. From the 100 Hour War with El Salvador (which resulted in the death of over 2000 Honduran civilians) to Ronald Reagan’s CIA turning Honduras into a Cold War battlefront, Honduras, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, remains unsafe and violent. Ironically, Hondurans flee their country to the safer shores of America, the very country which did so much to ruin their home, from the CIA to corporations who stole land from farmers to grow bananas. There’s something to be said of the old adage about “chickens coming home to roost.” Of course, freedom isn’t easy to achieve, and the system is rigged against honest people who just want to live a better life, in favor of the rich and powerful, the greedy grifters, and the violent killers who make it so easy for scared white Americans to paint all brown people with the same brush.

Written and directed by True Detective creator, Cary Fukunaga, Sin Nombre is a harrowing and heartbreaking tale of survival and humanity, or the lack thereof, of a teenaged Honduran girl and a Mexican criminal in the pursuit of The American Dream. There are two kinds of people: those who opportunistically extort and see other people as tools to be used and disposed of, and those who believe in the ideals of America, the shining city on the hill, a place where the troubles can be escaped, and where people can live free of fear or persecution. They are already American; they were just born in another country.