Film ‘Knives Out’ sparks question of how to tell immigration stories
Want to watch a fun holiday season movie? How about one that touches on immigration themes and issues of Latina/o identity? If so, the hit Knives Out, which is directed by Rian Johnson and stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Craig, and Ana de Armas (who was born in Cuba) may be just for you. A satire on murder mysteries, the film looks at the investigation of teh murder of a wealthy family patriarch. Let’s just say that the family and staff do not always behave in the murder investigation, reading of the will, and aftermath. I found Knives Out to be a fun poke at the murder mystery genre.
Gwen Aviles on NBC News analyzes the debate generated by the movie and observes that it
“shows the tensions around Americans’ views of immigrants and the immigration process. . . . The movie . . . has inspired heated questions about how to tell immigration narratives ethically and effectively.
Following the movie’s release, many praised its depiction of undocumented immigrants in the United States, as told through Golden Globe-nominated Ana de Armas’ character, Marta, the nurse and caregiver of family patriarch Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).
As the murder investigation of Harlan’s death unfolds, so does some of Marta’s backstory. Her mother is undocumented, having come to the U.S. from an unspecified Latin American country, and this fact consumes Marta daily. Worried about her family’s precarious legal situation, she tries to melt into the background, but the murder investigation — led by the whimsical Benoit Blanc (Craig) — launches her into a glaring spotlight.
Marta’s employers are a family that includes both progressive, `New Yorker’-reading types, as well as alt-right conservatives who call Marta the pejorative term, “anchor baby.” They’ve tolerated Marta for coming to the U.S. `the right way.’ But when they discover their inheritances from Harlan’s will are threatened and that Marta has undocumented family members, they direct their animosity toward her — going so far as to frame her for Harlan’s murder and lord her mother’s status over her head.” (bold added).
Latina/os in the United States come from many different national origin ancestries, from Mexico to Cuba to Honduras to Brazil to Peru. Latina/os have great diversity in physical appearance, cultural traditions, and histories, and more. Some Americans, however, including President Trump, view all Latina/os as a monolithic, homogeneous group. As noted above, Knives Out protagonist Marta’s Latina ancestry is left vague. Carlos Aguilar on Remezcla notes that, over the course of the film, “white characters can’t agree on whether [Marta’s] family is from Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay or Brazil.”
Judge for yourself at a theater near you whether Knives Out is good social commentary on immigration and Latina/o identity. I give it two thumbs up!
KJ