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Golden Door Review

Movies.com Critics

4.5

Dave White Profile

… harsh … Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 4.0
    74

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Generally favorable reviews
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 50

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly

    A sluggish procedural on what it was like to make the journey to Ellis Island back in the day.

    Read Full Review

  • 80

    out of 100

    Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

    Beautiful, spacey, trans-oceanic odyssey.

    Read Full Review

  • 80

    out of 100

    Variety

    An imaginative, intelligent and attractive Italo pic precisely when the country needs it most, Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door reps a solid piece of cinema that neither panders nor preaches.

    Read Full Review

  • 80

    out of 100

    The New York Times A.O. Scott

    What makes Mr. Crialese's telling unusual, apart from the gorgeousness of his wide-screen compositions, is that his emphasis is on departure and transition, rather than arrival.

    Read Full Review

  • 80

    out of 100

    Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

    After countless films in which immigration plays a central role -- one of the earliest was Charlie Chaplin's 1917 silent classic "The Immigrant" while one of the best, Jan Troell's "The Emigrants," has never migrated to DVD -- you'd think the canon was essentially complete. Yet this visionary work adds to it by combining harsh realities with magic-realist fantasies.

    Read Full Review

  • See all Golden Door reviews at Metacritic.com

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For Families provided by Common Sense Media

OK for kids 13+

Punishing but eye-opening immigrant tale.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that even though this subtitled period drama is rated PG-13, it's actually quite tame in terms of language and nudity (a communal shower scene at Ellis Island shows everything except genitalia, but it's not at all sexual), so there's little to worry about there if older tweens and young teens are interested. That said, the story is an unvarnished look at immigration, and some scenes can be disturbing (passengers get crushed during very rough seas). Also, some of the immigrants' experiences -- from why they married strangers to the strange questions they had to answer at Ellis Island -- may need explanations.

  • Families can talk about how movies and other media usually depict the immigrant experience. Why is the actual journey from the old world to the new so often glossed over? If immigrants had to sacrifice so much, why did they decide to leave their country to start over somewhere else? What did America represent for them? And how did these preconceived notions about the country form? What did you know about the immigrant experience before watching the movie? What did you learn during the film?

The good stuff
  • message true0

    Messages: Salvatore is a protective father who remains respectful of others while trying to safely usher his family to the new world. Some passengers speculate that the mysterious Lucy is a prostitute. Passengers loot belongings left by those who died during the journey, and men size up women like cattle and lay claim to them in a dubious matchmaking process. A young boy is treated as though he's useless simply because he refuses to talk.

What to watch for
  • violence false3

    Violence: When the ship hits rough seas, third-class passengers are viciously thrown about in their crowded spaces; some are crushed to death, and the resulting aftermath is dismaying/upsetting. Occasionally, two brothers swat at and shove each other.

  • sex false3

    Sex: Salvatore and Lucy flirt, but only through looks. A young man sneaks into the women's area in steerage and surreptitiously smells a sleeping woman's underwear -- while she's still wearing it. A few scenes at Ellis Island show both men and women naked (everything is visible except for genitalia) in communal showers.

  • language false0

    Language: Nothing more colorful than "idiot" and "blockhead."

  • consumerism false0

    Consumerism: None, except perhaps a nostalgic pitch for that land of plenty, America.

  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3

    Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some immigrants smoke cigarettes. Bottles of wine are brought on the ship as possessions.

An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology.

© Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Fan Reviews provided by

Average Rating: 2.818
Read all reviews Write a review at Fandango
4

Golden Door Well Done by fandango_dancer
Golden door was very well done. The first quarter was a little slow and it was a little hard to figure out what was going on, but it evolved into a quirky, very interesting movie. The dream sequences were quite comical (though maybe a little confusing at first), the characters were well developed, and the acting was exceptional. Scorsese brought the immigration process to life... from a poor family living in the old country to their arrival in America... helping you to understand far more about what our ancestors went through. Don't let the fact that it's subtitled put you off; the movie draws you in and you immediately forget that you're reading subtitles. A very natural humor is woven in throughout the movie, particularly in the second half. I took my 84-year old mother with me, who tends to lose interest if a movie is dull or the plot is too complicated, and she loved it. The highly symbolic ending was pure art at it's quirkiest and finest.

5

A "Door" to Open! by Bhambilly
I saw this beautiful movie on July 4, and it was the perfect day to be reminded of the challenges faced by our ancestors who made the voyage from Europe to America. The movie justifiably implodes the American Dream and lets us know that Ellis Island was not the door to freedom for everyone who ventured there. "The Golden Door" should be required viewing for every student of American history and, especially, anyone who romanticizes immigration to the U.S. during the days of Ragtime as a certain voyage to democracy for all. Martin Scorsese has done us a remarkable favor by bringing "The Golden Door" to this country.

3

by Harleyvrod57

4

golden door by billbooks
worth seeing although not as good as the critics would have us believe.

Read all Golden Door reviews at Fandango
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