Elia Kazan's 'America America'

Elia Kazan, the controversial Academy Award-winning director, recently died in New York at the age of 94. During the 1950's, he directed such classic films as On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire, both starring Marlon Brando, and East of Eden with James Dean. One of his lesser known films, however, struck an emotional chord with us.

Based on the story of his Greek family's immigration to the United States from Turkey in the early 1900's, America America depicts the struggles a young Greek boy (Kazan's uncle) goes through to reach the land of freedom, America. Along the way, he befriends a young Armenian trying to escape the anti-Armenian violence carried-out by the Turkish government. The Greek boy experiences this violence first-hand, as he witnesses the burning of a church full of helpless Armenian children and elderly. As the touching story eventually brings America within sight, the two boys can have freedom only if one of them makes the ultimate sacrifice.

We highly recommend this film for viewing, not only for it's historical Armenian content, but also for the depth of human compassion, understanding and spirit shared between these two complete strangers during the most difficult of times.

If a copy of this movie is not available at your local video rental store, ask them kindly to carry it. You may also purchase a copy through the links on this page.

America America (1963)
Elia Kazan, Stathis Giallelis,Frank Wolff,Harry Davis,Elena Karam,Linda Marsh, DVD - Wide Screen / Subtitled,WARNER HOME VIDEO, Running Time: 02:48:00 ***Usually ships within 24 hours*** 20110617000711613