Walter, the first character we meet, has to abandon his independent lifestyle and his new girlfriend to welcome his family back into his life. Esther, who turned to religion during Walter’s absence, struggles to reconcile her beliefs with her new life in America. Sylvia, uprooted from her life in Africa, attempts to reinvent herself despite her family’s best wishes. Their migratory experience is not reduced to a perspective of racial struggle. Instead, the narrative focuses on their emotions, which appear really normal and relatable.

This approach is particularly interesting because I believe it can be challenging for people to empathize with stories presented from a specific political perspective, especially if they have never been victims of similar circumstances. However, when it comes to feelings, we can all relate. We’ve all experienced disappointment, felt a sense of loss, or tried to fit into a new environment at some point in our lives.

Take Esther, for instance. It would be easy to frame her as an antagonistic presence, with her newfound spirituality causing friction with her husband and limiting the freedoms she allows their daughter, Sylvia. But Esther is scared and homesick. She was left without her husband far longer than she expected and found solace in a community that took her in. Her faith, which kept her company all this time, is now a significant part of her identity.

In conclusion, all three leads put in a masterclass. Each character is flawed and frustrating, but I rooted for them to find the harmony they clearly once had. I felt the film's love for the family, never judging them, and giving them the space to make mistakes. Music and dance are at the film's heart, and anyone with even a slight interest in music knows the power it has to bring people together. I watched this yesterday and can still feel it. It's a good 'un.

The movie shed a light on the problematics of reunifications. How people and families can grow apart from each other and how contradictory the emotions during reunification can be.

I paid attention on Walter's (and later also Sylvia's) notion that dancing is the only place where he can be actually genuinely he. I interpreted this as a reflection of the liminal space, that racial discrimination and position as a "cultural other" in American society cause immigrants and their families.

Mefidi Charef - From Tea In The Harem:

"She leaves the room and Majid flops down on the bed, reflecting that for a long time he's been neither French nor Arab. He's the son of immigrants-caught between two cultures, two histories, two languages, and two colours of skin. He's neither black nor white. He has to invent his own roots, create his own reference points."

-> Building one's own roots between two or more cultures and languages must be somehow complicated: constant dynamic movement between remembering, forgetting and learning while rebuilding also one's identity.

I’m the movie, memories are mixed up with smiles and sadness. A story line from the past can start with a line of evoking smiles and end with a line evoking sad events. They l, the interlocutors, can start with a smile and end with sadness. This mirrors their lives and reunion in America. It is comforting as it is unsettling. The movie ends with a sense of comfort and ‘arrival’.

When Walter found his wife, and they both went back home, it felt like that was the actual “Welcome to America” moment. However, their initial experiences are all part of the reunion.