Cable television network HBO premieres a new documentary
today entitled Citizen USA.
The Baltimore
Sun reported. “Inspired by her husband’s desire to become an American,
Emmy-winning filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi attends naturalization ceremonies
across all 50 states and meets brand-new citizens to learn why they chose
America to be their home,” according to HBO press materials.
Pelosi’s film is truly inspirational and recaptures what it
means to be an American. She allows these new Americans tell her why they are
so happy to have become citizens.
In one of the scenes, Pelosi follows a man from Portugal
following his naturalization ceremony. He raises the U.S flag like a religious
ritual and only now considers himself worthy of doing this after becoming an
American citizen.
Boston Herald says that Citizen USA tackles the most common
question about why do so many foreigners want to become Americans? The
universal response is that America’s
independence and the freedom to choose one’s destiny is what brought new
citizens here. It is the most patriotic hour you’ll have all day.
Many of the film's subjects tell of discrimination, abject
poverty, and political oppression from their homelands. “No country has full
democracy like United States,”
says Walter Dratner from Poland.
A woman from India said “America is the
only place in the world where you can arrive with $100 in your pocket and get a
PhD in nuclear engineering."
An Iranian woman from Wisconsin
is just thrilled turning on the TV and watching people express opposing
political opinions without fear of the consequences. It is the freedoms these
new Americans marvel at — the ability to go out at night unmolested by the
police, pick a career or just buy a car in the color of their choice.
Several people in the movie refer to that: "I was
always told by my teacher or my peers, you can do this, but not that."
Pelosi's husband and co-producer, Michiel Vos said that “America there’s
just one playing field, and it’s called the market. You can do anything you
want, you can reinvent yourself, and you can start over.”
Citizen USA shatters the idea that only unskilled
laborers flock to these shores. We are introduced to a German nuclear chemist
and a physician from India
who is determined to eradicate AIDS.
An estimated 40 million Americans are foreign born and 1
million people from 150 countries each year become citizens. As far as Pelosi
is concerned, it's impossible to overstate the influence of Hollywood
on immigrants’ perceptions of the USA. “Hollywood made the American dream, and it
exports this dream around the world. As a result, the whole world wants to come
here,” she explains.
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