Unit 2: Lamerica

My reaction to the film...:

Lamerica was a very thought provoking film and - even as I write this - more and more things come to mind. For the sake of brevity, I'll stop at two.

First is that anyone can become a displaced person. Governments fall, wars rage, economies collapse and natural disasters occur. It can happen to anyone. It has happened, at one time or another, to most American families. It's how many of us got here.

Second is the hope that sustains the emigrant/immigrant. In the film, this hope is rarely rooted in reality. An Albanian's fantasy of becoming a football star is no more grounded in reality than Spiro/Talarico's dream of seeing his infant son, yet the dream sustains both through hardship.

...and the reviews:

In Goldsmith's review, I was intrigued by his discussion of the director's portrayal of capitalist globalization as "...merely the next in a series of socio-political structures that exploits the poor and makes the life of the individual all but redundant." Approached in this way, Gino and Fiore become more than just two small-time con men and their plan to exploit the desperate circumstances is revealed as part of a greater culture of exploitation.

In Berardinelli's review, I was struck by the description of the way in which the issues raised in the film are depicted in a series of vignettes. Like Gino, we encounter the Albanian situation in bits and pieces, which is reminiscent of the bits of newsreel footage that introduce the movie. The scope of the situation is not seen through Albanian eyes but is revealed in fragments glimpsed by an Italian.

Based on the film I would characterize 1991 Albania as...

...in a shambles. Following years of isolation in the wake of WWII, the country is changing from Socialism to Capitalist/Democracy. Poverty is widespread.

Some of the norms and social pressures apparent in the film are:

The poor economy has created a large number of displaced persons, many of whom are trying to escape the country to Italy. Prior to the Socialist period, Albania was controlled by fascist Italy and the Albanians are shown as obsessed with Italian popular culture and the lure of the affluent life they see on the TV screen.

One significant hold-over from the Socialist era is bureaucratic corruption.

Some of the changes that are underway are:

As part of the transition process, the country's borders are open to foreigners and foreign ideas, while remaining in place for the Albanians, themselves.

The government is trying to put an end to the corruption.

How do some of the key characters react to the changes that are underway?

Spiro/Talarico was forced to abandon reality a long time ago. He now tries to pick up his life where it left off fifty years earlier. He cannot come to grips with the passage of time yet, even in his deluded state, he still manages to dream and to survive.

Gino loses everything that he has used to define himself until he has lost all of his possessions and even his own identity and becomes a displaced person. He will arrive in his own country as a refugee. Goldsmith describes this journey as Gino's going "...from cynical opportunist to sympathetic observer to bewildered victim."