I have to admit that this film interested me purely from a TCK standpoint. I've been meaning to watch it for ages, but only just now got the chance through Netflix now that Macs can also watch instantly online. For that function I am very grateful!
Nicole Kidman's character in this film, Silvia Broome, fascinated me. It was great to finally see an ATCK character up on the mainstream silver screen. I was shocked, however, to learn that none of the writers of the film have a personal connection to Africa that I could find, yet they managed to write an ATCK character who did not feel like a stereotype of what they thought a white African woman would be like. Of course it goes without saying that they are excellent screenwriters, but when it comes to a character like Silvia Broome I doubt writing her was second nature seeing as you don't come across many white African ATCKs in the US, even these days.
Silvia blended in very well with her surroundings in New York and at the UN allowing her to pretty much hide her true self and cultural identity. Even her accent (although most of the time Nicole Kidman just sounded like her Aussie self to me) was hard to link to a specific part of the world, a difficulty with most New Yorkers as so many are not native to the city. This blending worked extremely well in terms of portraying an ATCK character in a movie. Had the screenwriters read Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds by David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken? I would be shocked if they had, but did they realize how on the nail they were with Silvia's Hidden Immigrant characterization?
Maybe the idea of hidden immigrant is obvious to those outside the TCK circle making it a natural and fitting choice to make Silvia one in the film. Or could it be luck that they happened in on a very important detail of this character's life and characterization simply because she worked at the UN and left a dangerous secret life behind her in Africa making her inherently secretive and not what she seemed? I am inclined to believe the latter, but if the prior is true then I would be very impressed.
Personally, the film's success seemed due to the fact that the filmmakers were willing to focus on the life of a white African woman who struggles with her identity, culture and home country in a film. It helped me figure out some important points in portraying a character such as Silvia Broome in a film. The writers were not scared to show Silvia's roots in a foreign country and how that culture influenced her character and choices through personal nuances that created a character that is multi-dimensional. I think the writers did an amazing job and Nicole played the character perfectly with her calm exterior overriding an interior life full of sorrow and heartache and experiences hidden and misunderstood by those around her in New York.
Although this theme of the struggle of identity and belonging has been widely explored by filmmakers, it has not been explored as much in terms of TCKs and is something I hope continues especially for the sake of the growing TCK community. We can no longer hide from the fact that skin color, accent or historical nationality point to almost little to nothing in terms of a persons true personal national identity or culture. This is especially when faced with the fact that most people do not grow up in a vacuum of one culture that determines their identity anymore. We are all a mixed bag, TCKs more than others, and should be forthcoming about telling our stories without fear of being misunderstood because I believe much can be learned from cultural chameleons such as ourselves.
As much as I enjoyed this film I do have one issue with it. This issue relates to the question of whether we really need another film about a white woman who needs to be saved by a white man from the conflicts of Africa. Unfortunately most mainstream films made about Africa or with a focus on Africa have white people as protagonists. There are many African films that don't, but the mainstream western world has not had as much exposure to these films perpetuating stereotyping and racism that has been and can still be inherent in the film world. The question of whether or not white protagonists living in Africa, or with a connection to the continent, really need more screen time is something I have been struggling with when pondering the films that play out in my head.
As a white woman who grew up in Africa I would love to write a film that I could connect to in terms of my history and the struggle it often was to be white in Africa. The question is how to do this without audiences misunderstanding the motive behind the film, especially because so many other people in Africa have to struggle so much harder just to survive day to day. I don't wish to write films in order to gain sympathy for 'those poor white people struggling in Africa', but want simply to tell the tales of life as a white person in Africa, as an African, for good or bad.
I do also hope to write stories that tell the tales of all those who have lived or do live in the Africa I knew, but I don't always feel I have the understanding or personal experience to do all these complex characters justice in written form right now. However, I do feel I can write about what I know. This is growing up as a white girl in Africa, going to school with kids of 42 different nationalities. It was a privileged life and not one that many people will be able to or will necessarily want to connect to.
Ultimately no matter what I write, one reality is that the subject matter may not be a familiar one and the characters not necessarily from the same culture or social class as the audience. Hopefully though, I can still create films that connect with the audience emotionally just as was done in The Interpreter. Silvia may have been a white woman from Africa but she was still human and therefore, I believe, universally connected to everyone.
One thing The Interpreter did a great job of that I am very thankful for is the job of bringing an African subject to the forefront of Hollywood. There are so many and varied African tales to be told, all of which we can learn precious lessons from that it's about time we saw them up on the screen. Whether people appreciate them or not is another matter. Hopefully audiences will leave the theatre feeling like Sean Penn's character, Tobin Keller, at the end of the movie; enchanted by another character who he doesn't quite understand but is draw to by the depth of spirit and character under the surface, often hidden away, but when drawn out, beautiful and full of wisdom and hope for the future.
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