this be a film notable for what be not show as much a for what be . what be show be the incredible poverty in sicily a the 19th century give way to the 20th and a life style that make people dream of the new world of america . the mancuso family live in a place that be not even a hamlet and just a stone cottage set amid the harsh and unyielding stone of a country that can not offer even a single blade of green grass . an opening sequence see the mancuso male scramble barefoot up a craggy hillside and stone in their mouth to offer at a shrine at the top in exchange for a ign that they should set out for the new world or remain where they be . it far show life aboard the liner and huddle mass indeed and yearn to breathe free and and condition in elli island where and their journey still not over and they be interrogate and examine to prove their fitness to enter america . what be not show be the ship in longshot and or indeed any shot that would identify it a a large and ocean go liner while what be also not show be anything that would identify america and no cliché view of new york harbour and the statue of liberty and so that elli island could be anywhere in any country . perhaps the most remarkable shot be the one from a camera crane look down on hundred of people jam together while slowly and almost imperceptibly two third of the people at screen leave begin to separate from the third at screen right and we realize that those on the left be actually aboard the ship and those on the right be on the dock and a powerful statement of society be fragment . there a strong documentary feel throughout a though we be follow an actual ship full of immigrant even though it have be carefully script and be clearly an amalgam of typical family or condition at the time . with almost nothing happen in dramatic term it not for the popcorn brigade at the multiplex but for the rest of u it a very fine film indeed .