La critique de James Berardinelli (fin)

The acting is uniformly superb. As the parents, Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton strike the right chords as a loving father and mother attempting to deal with their own grief while trying to shield their surviving children from the core of their pain and sporadic despair. The Bolger sisters, Sarah and Emma, are natural performers, capturing our sympathy from the beginning with their flawless, unaffected work. The film's most emotionally true moment occurs when Christie admits that no one seems to recognize she lost something precious when her brother died.

In many ways, it's a pleasure to encounter a motion picture about immigration that doesn't have an overt political agenda. While there's a place for that sort of movie, there's also a place for something like In America, which focuses on characters and their interaction, and doesn't leave the viewer floundering in a whirlpool of unrelieved depression. Sheridan's overall approach is cautiously optimistic, and, as a result, In America turns out to be uplifting, even though the sensitive viewer will find many opportunities to shed tears.

© 2003 James Berardinelli