Tonight I watched All Saints again, and started to tear up because it reminded me of the Ukrainian refugees I've been teaching English to all day. On further reflection, I realized that there are at least three movies I've watched with similar themes on the Asian American experience.
Gran Torino (2008) - Hmong refugees from Laos in Highland Park, Michigan
All Saints (2017) - Karen refugees from Burma in Smyrna, Tennessee
Minari (2020) - South Korean immigrants in rural Arkansas
Common themes and characters
- a cranky white American veteran of the Korean or Vietnam war slowly becomes friends with the immigrants (all three films)
- immigrants growing vegetables to sell at Asian markets and restaurants (All Saints and Minari)
- trying to grow and water crops and suffering setbacks and disasters (All Saints and Minari)
- immigrants awkwardly being welcomed into a church sparsely populated by older white people (All Saints and Minari)
- an immigrant couple's marriage being strained by long work hours (All Saints and Minari)
- teenage immigrant boys getting in trouble with the law (Gran Torino and All Saints)
- immigrants working in chicken plants (All Saints and Minari)
- immigrant families winning over cranky Americans with politeness, food gifts, and hospitality (Gran Torino and All Saints)
