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America America
America America (British title The Anatolian Smile) is a 1963 American drama film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan. It was inspired by the struggle of his uncle, Avraam Elia Kazantzoglou, to work his way to America, a land of dreams and opportunity. Kazan adapted the screenplay from his own 1962 book.
In the late 1890s, a young Cappadocian Greek, Stavros Topouzoglou, lives in an impoverished village below Mount Erciyes in Ottoman Turkey. The subjugated life of the Cappadocian Greeks and Armenians of Kayseri is depicted, including the Derinkuyu Underground City traditional cliff cave dwellings, where Stavros' grandmother lives.
Stavros and his Armenian friend Vartan plan to go to the faraway land of opportunity – America – together. Stavros witnesses a Hamidian massacre against the Armenians, which leaves Vartan dead, and Stavros is nearly imprisoned trying to recover Vartan's mutilated corpse.
Knowing that the Greeks won't remain safe from the violent pogroms forever, the family plans to send Stavros to Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, to eventually settle the family there. He is entrusted by his father, Issac, with the family's entire fortune in money, jewels, rugs, whatever is greatest in value and transportable, including the family donkey.
Once successful, he is to send first for his sisters, then his brothers, and establish them safely and prosperously there as well. To do this he will invest in the carpet business of his father's cousin Odysseus by buying his way in with his family's meager accumulated wealth. Though this is his father's dream, it is not Stavros' as he is still determined to go to America.
Stavros' odyssey begins with a long voyage on donkey and on foot through the impoverished towns and villages of the Anatolian countryside. Along the way, a vagabond latches on to the naïve young dreamer and through guile attempts to take everything. Stavos goes to an ottoman official to retrieve his property but instead is confiscated by the official. Stavos kills the unrepentant vagabond in retribution, and arrives at his cousin's home penniless. The older man, who had deceived Stavros' father, is deeply disappointed, as he was counting on Issac's wealth to rescue his failing carpet business. In an attempt to exploit a valuable opportunity Stavros still represents to him, Odysseus proposes that his handsome young cousin marry the plain and needy Thomna, daughter of a wealthy Greek carpet merchant, Aleko Sinnikoglou. Stavros realizes this would mean the end of his dream and adamantly refuses, abruptly leaving the angry cousin.
Now homeless on the streets, Stavros survives by eating discarded food and working at backbreaking and hazardous jobs. He is befriended by a streetwise older man, Garabet, who helps him toward his dream. After nine months of scrimping and self-denial, Stavros has saved nine Turkish pounds towards the 110 pound third class passage to New York, but he has every penny thieved by a prostitute in his first sexual encounter.
Clinging to Garabet, he ends up at a gathering of local anarchists planning a terrorist bombing. However, before they can disburse, they are slaughtered by police gunfire. Left for dead, Stavros ends up in a hospital, only to be thrown atop a wagon filled with dead bodies headed for disposal in the sea. He accidentally slides off and all but crawls back to his cousin's.
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America America
America America (British title The Anatolian Smile) is a 1963 American drama film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan. It was inspired by the struggle of his uncle, Avraam Elia Kazantzoglou, to work his way to America, a land of dreams and opportunity. Kazan adapted the screenplay from his own 1962 book.
In the late 1890s, a young Cappadocian Greek, Stavros Topouzoglou, lives in an impoverished village below Mount Erciyes in Ottoman Turkey. The subjugated life of the Cappadocian Greeks and Armenians of Kayseri is depicted, including the Derinkuyu Underground City traditional cliff cave dwellings, where Stavros' grandmother lives.
Stavros and his Armenian friend Vartan plan to go to the faraway land of opportunity – America – together. Stavros witnesses a Hamidian massacre against the Armenians, which leaves Vartan dead, and Stavros is nearly imprisoned trying to recover Vartan's mutilated corpse.
Knowing that the Greeks won't remain safe from the violent pogroms forever, the family plans to send Stavros to Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, to eventually settle the family there. He is entrusted by his father, Issac, with the family's entire fortune in money, jewels, rugs, whatever is greatest in value and transportable, including the family donkey.
Once successful, he is to send first for his sisters, then his brothers, and establish them safely and prosperously there as well. To do this he will invest in the carpet business of his father's cousin Odysseus by buying his way in with his family's meager accumulated wealth. Though this is his father's dream, it is not Stavros' as he is still determined to go to America.
Stavros' odyssey begins with a long voyage on donkey and on foot through the impoverished towns and villages of the Anatolian countryside. Along the way, a vagabond latches on to the naïve young dreamer and through guile attempts to take everything. Stavos goes to an ottoman official to retrieve his property but instead is confiscated by the official. Stavos kills the unrepentant vagabond in retribution, and arrives at his cousin's home penniless. The older man, who had deceived Stavros' father, is deeply disappointed, as he was counting on Issac's wealth to rescue his failing carpet business. In an attempt to exploit a valuable opportunity Stavros still represents to him, Odysseus proposes that his handsome young cousin marry the plain and needy Thomna, daughter of a wealthy Greek carpet merchant, Aleko Sinnikoglou. Stavros realizes this would mean the end of his dream and adamantly refuses, abruptly leaving the angry cousin.
Now homeless on the streets, Stavros survives by eating discarded food and working at backbreaking and hazardous jobs. He is befriended by a streetwise older man, Garabet, who helps him toward his dream. After nine months of scrimping and self-denial, Stavros has saved nine Turkish pounds towards the 110 pound third class passage to New York, but he has every penny thieved by a prostitute in his first sexual encounter.
Clinging to Garabet, he ends up at a gathering of local anarchists planning a terrorist bombing. However, before they can disburse, they are slaughtered by police gunfire. Left for dead, Stavros ends up in a hospital, only to be thrown atop a wagon filled with dead bodies headed for disposal in the sea. He accidentally slides off and all but crawls back to his cousin's.