At some point in our lives, we all leave home — whether it’s going to college, getting an apartment, moving to a new city or even a new country. Sometimes it’s for good; sometimes it’s just for a few months. Regardless of circumstance, anyone who’s done it knows that the process of moving away from home changes you completely. Your beliefs shift. You learn hard, practical lessons. You meet people and make choices that will forever alter the course of your life.
Brooklyn beautifully conveys the complexities of that experience in a surprisingly simple story. In the film, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) leaves her sister and mother in Ireland for New York in hopes of a good education and a brighter future. After a long bout of homesickness, Eilis meets and falls in love with Tony (Emory Cohen), the son of Italian immigrants. Just as Eilis’ life in Brooklyn starts getting good, a family tragedy calls her back home. There, she must decide whether to stay with her familiar, less challenging life in Ireland, or return to the home she’s worked so hard to build in New York.
There are many reasons to recommend Brooklyn — its relatable story for one, its glowing visuals and performances for another. But Brooklyn’s commendable qualities go far beyond this, including the amount of respect writer Nick Hornby and director John Crowley give the movie’s female protagonist. Brooklyn is a movie about hard choices, and for the most part, Eilis makes those choices on her own. At different points in the film, she’s caught between romantic relationships, and familial and personal obligations. But in none of these situations does it feel like her hand is forced. The movie lets us know early that Eilis can take care of herself, and she’s never forced to compromise on that point, though she easily could have been.
Although politics aren’t really on Brooklyn’s agenda, the film also carries an unintentional point on that score worth considering. At a time when the United States is anxious about welcoming refugees and immigrants, this film reminds us that our country is made up largely of immigrants — some who look like Eilis, but also many who don’t.
Perhaps Brooklyn’s greatest success is emphasizing the importance of the individual stories that make up our country. Not everyone’s family includes glamorous or action-packed tales in their history, but many do include stories like Eilis’. Brooklyn reminds us that these are stories worth hearing, telling, and sharing, and that the experience of moving out and starting a new life isn’t isolated to any one generation. Perhaps it can also serve to remind us that those experiences aren’t isolated to any one culture, either.
Abby Olcese is a freelance film critic and writer based in Missouri. You can find her on Twitter @abbyolcese.
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