Brooklyn, a movie by John Crowley, was on my watch list for a very long time. I've heard so many good comments about that, but I always hesitated to watch it.
Maybe it was because of its story. A young girl who immigrated from Ireland to America in the 1950s. That didn't seem just a normal story to me as it could have reflected my own life. So I delayed watching that as much as possible. But when I finally watched it, I couldn't be more thrilled. Brooklyn is like a mirror. Perhaps it isn't just me, but any immigrant can see a reflection of her/his life in this movie.
Brooklyn has three main part. Eilis, the girl in the movie, is a shy and nice person who leaves her own country and her family to live a better life.
This first part of the movie seems so dark and sad, as it was for me in real life. At some point, when she is packing her stuff, her sister mentions that she has barely anything to take with her. That could be true, but how you can pack everything you own in a suitcase? Your suitcase can be empty and light, but any immigrant has a heavy heart.
On her way over the ocean, she is so lucky to meet another lady on the way, who helps her to overcome her motion sickness and pass the entry port without any problem.
At her early days in the colourful Brooklyn, she feels lost. Although she has a job and goes to school, she feels homesick. The joy of having a new life is ruined by the pain of leaving everything and everyone she has loved.
But there is no pain which can't be healed by time and that's where the second part starts. As time goes by, Eilis learns how to deal with her sadness, she gains her self-confidence back and starts to live her better life.
The key to her happiness is a young man she meets and begins to fall in love with him. But life always offers the most difficult things at our happiest moments. Eilis hears about her sister's death and she loses herself again. I can feel her pain and sadness. For any immigrant, every day starts with the fear of hearing bad news from the home.
She is looking for a way to comfort herself and she wants to go back, to her mother and her home. But where is home now? She is confused and under pressure. She wants to go back to Ireland because that's her home country. At the same time, she assures her lover that she will come back, because home is here now, with him in Brooklyn.
Again, any immigrant can easily understand this confusion. As an immigrant, you don't have a home. The home is in your suitcase and it moves with you.
Back in Ireland, the third and last part begins. Unlike the first part, now we see colours here too. Eilis is not shy anymore, she meets up with new people, goes to her friend's wedding, she even gets a job. It feels she starts to think about staying here. But she needs a reminder that why she left her hometown in the first place.
In a conversation with a strange lady, she confesses that she forgot how it feels to live there. It didn't feel good and it doesn't feel good anymore, no matter how much colour or happiness you add to it. Her life is somewhere else with some other people.
On her way back, we see some repetitive scenes. The same ship and now she is the one who helps another girl. Life repeats itself at different moments. It is our responsibility to repaint those moments in a way that we like.
If you are not an immigrant, I still encourage you to watch this movie. It's not just about immigration, it's about finding our way through the gray world and light it up.
