Amreeka

Amreeka is a 2009 drama written and directed by Palestinian American Cherien Dabis. The film follows Muna Farah, a single mother living in the occupied West Bank, and her teenage son, Fadi. After winning a U.S. green card lottery, Muna and her son move to America (which the movie is titled in Arabic) to join her sister’s family in a small Illinois town. The movie explores the good and the bad of living in America and the challenges that Arab immigrants face in America. This blog post will discuss the latter issue. 

There are various obstacles that migrants face when moving to a new country. Amreeka homes in on racism, underemployment, and feelings of belonging. For Muna and Fadi, they immigrated to America right as the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. Fresh from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, anti-Arab sentiments and Islamophobia was on the rise, and Muna and her son were met with prejudice from the start. Fadi’s classmates likened him to Osama bin Laden and a terrorist more broadly. They make fun of his name, and spread rumors that he was going to bomb the school. Although more subtle, Muna had similar experiences. In the West Bank, Muna had worked at a banking company for 10 years. However, in the U.S., prospective employers took one look at her and suddenly the position was filled or they were no longer hiring. As a result, like so many immigrants, Muna ends up underemployed, working at the fast food chain, White Castle, despite having two degrees and 10 years of experience. Even Muna’s brother-in-law, Nabeel, who immigrated to America with Muna’s sister 15 years prior, was not spared from the anti-Arab sentiments. Nabeel is a doctor with his own practice and it was quite successful up until a few years ago when patients began leaving. Throughout the movie, more and more clients leave Nabeel’s practice, and in public former patients gawk at his wife, Raghda.  

Amreeka also explores issues of identity, belonging, and homesickness. Subjected to invasive, arbitrary checkpoints in the West Bank, Fadi tells his mother he is a prisoner in his own home and urges Muna to accept the U.S. green card lottery in order to begin a more hopeful life in America. However, once there, Fadi finds he wants to go back, away from the taunting and the unexpected difficulty of assimilating to America. Raghda repeatedly tells her sister Muna that she should not have come to America. If she could, Raghda says, she would take the next plane home. Raghda’s ideas of home and nationality differ from her children, who were born in America. In response to her daughter declaring herself and her family Americans, Raghda replies that in their house, their home will always be Palestine. 

The issues explored in Amreeka are still characteristic of the experiences of many Arabs and Arab Americans today. Following 9/11 and the Bush administration’s War on Terror, Muslims became the target of national security (Aziz et al., 2022). There was a redoubling of Orientalist thought that conflated Muslims and Arabs and extremists as one in the same. Studies show that hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims increased significantly in the months following 9/11 (Disha et al., 2014). More than twenty years later, and still people are ignorant of Arab culture and people. The discrimination has far from ended- Reuters reports a 70% rise in Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian incidents in the first half of 2024 (Singh, 2024). The experiences spotlighted in Amreeka are important for educating Americans who hold misguided and bigoted beliefs, a burden that unfortunately sometimes falls on Arabs themselves. Muna and her family are educated, funny, loving, everyday people who are just trying to make a living for themselves and their children. In a space that often vilifies Arabs and Muslims, movies like Amreeka are vital for breaking stereotypes and promoting understanding. 

The film Amreeka is a heartwarming story of a Palestinian family’s experience in America. Although there are many struggles Muna and her family faces, such as racial discrimination and difficulties adjusting to American life, the film also highlights the importance of family in getting through difficult times. It is films like Amreeka that humanize Arabs and combat harmful stereotypes and orientalist thought, something everyone can benefit from.