Golden Door (2006)

72% of critics liked it
(86 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(4,973 ratings)

A family living in poverty leaves behind the world they know in hope of finding new opportunities in this historical drama from director Emanuele Crialese. The Mancusos are a family struggling to make ends meet in a small farming community in Sicily in 1913. Life has long been hard for the Mancuso… More A family living in poverty leaves behind the world they know in hope of finding new opportunities in this historical drama from director Emanuele Crialese. The Mancusos are a family struggling to make ends meet in a small farming community in Sicily in 1913. Life has long been hard for the Mancuso Family, who have lived in the same village for generations, and one day they are visited by a man who claims to be from the United States. The man tells them of the wonder and plenty of life in America, an offers to make it possible for them to travel to the New World and find work there. The Mancusos cautiously accept the offer, but after a dangerous voyage aboard an ocean liner, the family arrives in New York to face a number of new challenges -- the humiliating examination at Ellis Island, and abandoning their old lives and ways as they struggle to assimilate in a massive city that is now their home. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Francesco Casisa and Vincenzo Amato, The Golden Door (aka Nuovomondo) received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 58 min.
Directed By: Emanuele Crialese
Written By: Emanuele Crialese
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: May 25, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jan 8, 2008
Studio: Miramax Films

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Yes, the details are spot-on and realistic in the extreme. But we've seen them before. It's the story Crialese hangs this detail on that's weak.
Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
Its minutiae don't bring a lump in the throat -- just a drumming of the fingers.
David Edelstein, New York Magazine
The rhythms of the movie are slow and daydreamy, but [director] Crialese delights in breaking up the realism with his protagonist's mystical -- almost madcap -- visions of the New World's abbondanza.
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
The film never really coheres, and although some scenes are amazing, the total is slow, ponderous and sometimes silly.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Turns an old story into something completely new.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Writer/director Emanuel Crialese gives his atmospheric film a look of daguerreotype authenticity.
S. James Wegg, JWR
Prince of the New World
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
I would imagine that if you have a close connection to Ellis Island immigrants, you will be similarly touched by this movie.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
The film's cinematography by Agnès Godard is breathtaking at times, especially early on during exterior scenes.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
Crialese presents enough historical detail to give many 2nd and 3rd generation Americans today an idea of what physical and mental scrutiny their grandparents might have been subjected to in order to be accepted through the "Golden Door."
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
The journey to America by an Italian peasant and his family, conveying their yearning for a new life in scenes of magical realism.
Bill Gibron, Filmcritic.com
is all facade and no force
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Thanks to Martin Scorsese's seal of approval, Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door may now he salvaged from critical and popular disinterest.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
Its series of episodes don't always add up to a single, cohesive narrative so much as they seem a succession of surrealistic impressions.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
Although the movie's plot line is rather flimsy and its characters somewhat distant, the movie's images are hard to forget.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Not as inspiring as it should be.
Mark R. Leeper, rec.arts.movies.reviews
The early parts require some patience, but the film richly rewards that patience. I know of no film that so patiently and so completely documents the Ellis Island experience.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Golden Door is a cinematic treasure reimagining the emotional landscape of Ellis Island, dipped in the delights of magical realism and the enchanting nomadic dual consciousness of cultural relativism.
S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media
Punishing but eye-opening immigrant tale.
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
So enjoyable and visually stimulating is the experience, it's tough to knock Crialese's Door.

Read all 23 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Golden Door" is an intricately detailed yet ethereal movie about the journey of a group of Italian peasants to America around 1900. Hoping to be reunited with his brother in the New World, Salvatore Mancuso(Vincenzo Amato) travels with his sons… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Golden Door" is an intricately detailed yet ethereal movie about the journey of a group of Italian peasants to America around 1900. Hoping to be reunited with his brother in the New World, Salvatore Mancuso(Vincenzo Amato) travels with his sons Angelo(Francesco Casisa) and Pietro(Filippo Pucillo), along with his elderly mother(Aurora Quattrocchi). They are escorting two young women, Rita(Federica De Cola) and Rosa(Isabella Ragonese), who are going to the United States to marry men they have never met. Just as they are about to depart Italy, Lucy Reed(Charlotte Gainsbourg) enters the picture...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]None of the emigrants have ever gone any distance beyond the village they were born in, so what makes them take such a perilous journey is the extreme poverty at home coupled with the fantastic promises of America which include money on trees, huge vegetables and rivers flowing with milk. They are not stupid, just lacking a proper education at a time when technology is not quite at a point to permit a free flow of information. All they have are postcards of a wondrous land.[/font]
William G

Well-shot immigration drama ends on quite a peculiar note.