enhance by the expressive cinematography of agnes godard ( beau travail ) and golden door be a visually strike tone poem that follow the journey of a peasant family from their primitive home in sicily to ellis island in new york at the turn of the century . it be a surreal and enigmatic and often strange and but ultimately deeply reward experience . interweave dreamlike and symbolic imagery with gritty realism and the late film by emanuele crialese ( respiro ) be like an impressionistic painting a cinematic artist rendering of what the immigration process may have be like for our parent and grandparent . crialese magical and mystery tour come about a a result of his visit to the museum on elli island and the look on the face of the immigrant depict in photograph he saw and and his research into the harsh policy and procedure use during the admission of immigrant . guide by letter he read of immigrant send to relative who remain at home and crialese identifies with those impoverished immigrant who be able to see the positive side of thing beyond their ordeal . to salvatore mancuso ( vincenzo amato ) and his old son angelo ( francesco casisa ) and america be a distant dream that they know nothing about . after climb a rocky mountain to pray to the saint for a sign and they be reward when they be show post card by salvatore young son and pietro ( filippo pucillo ) and a deaf mute and that depict the new world a a land where they can bathe in river of milk and sit under a money tree and or harvest giant onion and carrot . after dispose of their animal in exchange for shoe and suit and salvatore and his two son and and his elderly mother fortunata ( aurora quattrocchi ) set out on their adventure with more hope than trepidation but the equation soon shift the other way . a they board the boat and settle into their crowded third class steerage compartment and the most talked about scene in the film take place . use an overhead camera that show mass of people stand and a the ship pull away and the frame be divide into those aboard the ship and those wave goodbye from the dock and the way they be separated implies they be be tear asunder from everything familiar . aboard the ship be a mysterious english woman name lucy ( charlotte gainsbourg ) . crialese do not reveal her past or the reason she be travel to america but she seem to stand for the onset of the modern world they be enter . though they eye each other cautiously and lucy becomes interested in salvatore and ask him to marry her in order to allow her to enter the country . the voyage be treacherous with a violent storm buffet the ship . shot in almost complete darkness and passenger in steerage be toss against the side of the boat and and afterward and body lie tangle and twist on the floor a if in a macabre totentanz . the rite of passage through immigration processing at ellis island do not become any easy and crialese attack the way illiterate peasant and in the name of preserve civilize society and be force to put puzzle together and perform mathematical task and and undergo humiliate medical examination to prove they be fit . a marriage brokering ceremony feel like an auction block and the young woman look despondent when they be match with overweight middle age men . this be the only way they can enter the golden door and however and since single woman be reject unless they have partner and ostensibly to prevent the threat of prostitution . through the fog the immigrant can barely see the land of milk and honey and there be no statue of liberty ask for the tired and the poor and the humbled mass yearn to breathe free . in their imagination and however and the river be still flow and wait for them to jump in . though the end be ambiguous and one door open on to a blank wall and another door symbolize a rebirth of the soul and the passage we must all take from the old world to the new .