Reviews

As some have noted before, it is a light-hearted movie on a serious topic (undocumented immigrants) but always respectful at that.

I cannot quite agree with the reviewers that did not see the humor in this movie (I laughed about every three minutes throughout - expect towards the end - and sometimes even cried at the same time). Neither can I understand how people can say that the characters are flat or even "boring". Imho, the film succeeds in portraying them in not just black and white; each of them (and there are many!) evolves within the 120 minutes so much so that, in fact, it is not about the immigrants being the "angels" and the immigrant officers being the "devils" at all. On the contrary, lines are blurred very early on and especially in the end.

I find that this is a worth successor of "Untouchables"; I probably even prefer it. It is a very moving film (similar to the documentary "l'Escale") but without trying to be so. Also, the actors are brilliant! (Omar Sy, I think, even manages to mimic a Senegalese accent.)

This film talks about how for way too long African Americans have suffered from the lack of equal rights in the USA. In particular, it tells the story of an African American man who works for the White House as a butler over a number of administrations, the personal struggles he faces having to be subservient while his sons fight for freedom and his wife drowns her sorrows in alcohol. Although it was an interesting film, for my taste, it is trying to be too many things at the same time. What starts out as "the story of Cecil Gaines" turns into a half-fiction, half-documentary, semi-historical sketch of different U.S. administrations and their agendas. It tackles the civil rights movement, criticizing the hypocrisy of American politics, only to end in the cliché that the election of a man (who happens to have dark skin) will bring the long-awaited happy ending. Although I like the idea behind it, the film stays somewhat flat and it is hard to really connect with the characters. It does shine with a brilliant cast, though, and the make up is very nice.