The Immigrant Experience: The Long Long Journey

The Immigrant Experience: The Long Long Journey is a 1972 educational short subject that was written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver and produced by Linda Gottlieb for Learning Corporation of America. The film depicts the plight of a Polish Family who immigrates to the United States during the 1900's.
== Plot ==
In 1907, a 12 year old Polish boy named Janek - who narrates the film - along with his mother, two sisters and Grandmother, Babcha, immigrate to the United States along with countless others seeking a better life. 3 years earlier, the patriarch of the family went ahead to the United States on his own to get things ready for the rest of his family and also earn money for their passage across the Atlantic Ocean; since then, he has rented a flat in Brooklyn and has taken a job at a local slaughterhouse. The family arrives at Ellis Island, and they are each inspected for lice and disease along with everyone else; Babcha feels understandably uncomfortable and irritated (especially when she’s touched by the male inspector) and doesn’t hesitate to show it. Meanwhile, at the slaughterhouse, the family patriarch asks his bitter and unsympathetic boss if he can take off early so that he can meet his family at Ellis Island, and he bitterly replies no as he’s one worker short; he adds in that he waited three years to see his family, but his boss replies (again, bitterly) “Can’t be helped: You waited three years; you can wait a few more hours, can’t ya’?” Back at Ellis Island, the family is then interviewed by an Immigration Official and a translator, with Janek doing most of the talking; they are all given clearance, and when their patriarch finally gets off from work, he reunites with his family at Ellis Island and takes them back to their flat (up multiple flights of stairs).
As they unpack and settle in, Janek tells his father that he’s learning English and he proudly replies with a brief laugh, and Babcha has Janek put a pillow she brought along with her high on top of a cabinet, and she tell her grandson to remember that she wants her head to rest on said pillow when she dies; Janek and his two sisters are also mesmerized with and are curious about their new surroundings: Janek turns the flat’s lone electric lightbulb on and off, and the youngest points out a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the wall. Two months later, Janek’s father continues working at the slaughterhouse, earning $9 a week, and his mother has also taken a nightly cleaning job in a skyscraper, earning $6 a week; his older sister, Kasia, has moved into a mansion and has taken a job as a servant girl, earning $3 a week as well as food - though she is comfortable with her own arrangements, she hardly has time to leave the mansion and learn more about their new country. Janek also expresses interest in a job, but his father makes him go to school instead.
At school, Janek struggles to correctly pronounce certain words such as “thickening” (he pronounces said word as “tickening” as the voiced dental fricative “th” doesn’t occur in his native language), much to the irritation of his teacher and to the amusement of his peers; and he additionally struggles to fit in as well: During recess, he proceeds to eat a potato; but one of his peers (a bully) barges in, takes the potato and throws it away (stating that only “Greenhorns” eat potatoes) and insistingly offers him a Banana to eat, insisting it’s “American Food”. Janek hesitates, but takes it when he’s questioned if he knows what it is, and he is pressured by the bully as well as by more of his peers to eat it; unfortunately, Janek has never eaten a Banana before and doesn’t realize that he has to peel it first - he tries to eat it with the peel still on and spits it out because of the taste, and he is laughed at by his peers. Janek and the bully then immediately then get into a brief scuffle (which the larger bully slowly dominates), before their teacher comes out and immediately intervenes, and she immediately takes Janek inside.
The teacher treats Janek’s injuries, but she shows little to no sympathy for him; and she unforgivingly claims to Janek that it’s not her fault nor anyone else’s fault that others laugh at him because of his distinct characteristics and mannerisms. She sternly insists to Janek that he must overcome his habits in order to become “a real American”; a rightfully hurt Janek angrily insists that he will be a real American. The teacher then asks Janek what he would do if he were a farmer and his horse were unable to pull a plow (Janek answers that he’d get another horse), and she points out that if Janek’s father were unable to work, his boss would use the same reasoning; she then insists that the purpose of Janek’s education is to enable him to “rise above [his] background” so that he doesn’t wind up as an unskilled laborer (or as she metaphorically puts it, “a horse”). Janek asks what he needs to do.
That evening at home, as the family eats dinner, Janek talks about his time at school and brags that his teacher is helping him learn to speak English better, and that he looks forward to getting a good job, dressing nicely and making good money. Babcha however, who is at the stove cooking, has unfortunately not adjusted well to life in America and is uncomfortable with the family speaking English and she asks in Polish what he’s saying; Janek insists to her that they not speak any more Polish at home and that they only speak English, but this irritates Babcha and she bitterly shows this by taking her grandson’s full plate of food away and then goes to sit in her rocking chair by the window. As time goes on, Janek tries hard to pick up better English speaking skills and his teacher does all she can to help him, but Janek unfortunately continues to struggle - he is still unable to produce a voiced dental fricative “th”, and his grammar hasn’t improved either (i.e. he says “I can’t do” instead of “I can’t do it”). After multiple attempts, his teacher brings Janek over to a mirror in the classroom, and she instructs him to put his tongue against his upper teeth, and he finally manages to make a voiced dental fricative “th” and correctly says the words “thought” and “thick”; Janek is very proud of himself - but unfortunately, Janek has little time to enjoy his triumph as things suddenly take a turn for the worst.
As Janek comes home that same day, he finds his father lying in pain in bed and his mother and grandmother at his side; a doctor is also there and is struggling to explain what happened to the two women as the doctor doesn’t speak Polish, and he’s just about to write down what happened when Janek comes in, and his mother takes him over to the doctor. The doctor explains to Janek that his father has broken his hip in an accident at work, and he must not walk on it! A horrified Janek asks for how long, and the doctor replies “Four, maybe five months; if he stays in bed, there’s chance it will heal”; Janek immediately translates the horrible news for his family, and his grieving mother breaks down in tears. Sometime later, Janek goes to the slaughterhouse and asks his father’s boss to give his father time to recover, promising that he will return as soon as possible; but the boss, as bitter and unsympathetic as he was earlier, tells Janek that he had already replaced his father with someone else the day after the accident. Janek scoldingly replies “You got another horse!” (the same metaphor his teacher had pointed out earlier), but the boss is unswayed and adds in “There’s boatloads of men like your father coming in every day of the year” and that it’s every man for himself; dejected, Janek walks off without another word, the the boss mumbles “Greenhorn Kids” - Janek also takes a look around on his way out, somewhat amazed by the slaughterhouse yet also unsurprisingly horrified.
Janek arrives home and breaks the bad news to his family; their spirits are crushed, and again, his mother breaks down in tears. Some time later, Janek decides to talk to a fatherless Jewish boy who’s the same age as him and lives one floor above him; as the boy and his family are sewing and stitching together clothing, Janek invites himself in, and the boy asks Janek what he wants. Janek curiously asks the boy how much money they earn for their job, but the boy doesn’t immediately reply and asks who sent him. Janek explains that no one sent him and that his father is unable to work; the boy translates Janek’s reply for his mother, and he then explains to Janek that they get paid by the piece. Janek then asks the boy if he goes to school, and he replies no; and after a brief moment, Janek walks away without another word.
Meanwhile, Janek’s family has invited a Priest over to console his father, bedridden and appropriately depressed; as Janek comes in, his father starts to become upset, openly regrets their decision to immigrate to America and wishes to be back to Poland. The priest offers him some final comforting words and then gets up to leave; on his way out, Babcha gives him some of their saved up money for the church, and they say a prayer. A desperate Janek berates his grandmother for giving away their money and complains to his bedridden father about this; his father then angrily berates his son in Polish “How dare you forget the Church!” Janek replies in English “I didn’t forge-“ - but before he can finish, his father angrily berates him again for not speaking Polish and insists that they will speak Polish in the house (now yearning for his old life in Poland, English is the last thing he wants to hear). Janek angrily argues in Polish that they will always be “Greenhorns” otherwise, but his father just angrily hits him in the face!
As time goes on, things don’t get any better: Kasia has decided to move to Wisconsin so that she can earn more money to help support her struggling parents and grandmother; Babcha even gives Kasia her beloved pillow that she had brought with her from Poland - Kasia hesitates to accept it, but Babcha insists that she’s now willing to die without it. Janek has also stopped going to school; and one day, he decides to go see his teacher at school to return a book she had lent him. As Janek comes in, his teacher asks him why he hasn’t been in school; but without a reply, Janek hands his teacher her book back. She asks Janek is he’s read it, and he replies with a nod that he did; and she then points out that Janek can keep it as long as he remains in school. But the only reply a depressed and disillusioned Janek can give his teacher is a blank stare; and though at first briefly confused, she almost immediately understands that Janek isn’t staying in school. His teacher begs him not to quit, but Janek can only promise to come back once his father starts to work again; but she feels that “it never works out that way” and insists that he will never be better than his father now. Showing no emotion, Janek insists that he doesn’t need to be better than his father; although disappointed and understandably worried about Janek’s future, his teacher nonetheless respects his decision, and she gives Janek the book to keep.
Janek’s elderly self narrates his fate as well as his family’s fate: Janek takes his father’s place at the slaughterhouse; he must work from 6am to 6pm, but he becomes very proud of himself nonetheless. With Janek’s wages, the family is able to pay their rent, and they are even able to save up to finance passage for the rest of their family from Poland to The United States. Janek’s father however never returns to work, and Janek works at the slaughterhouse for 52 years. We then see Janek in his old age, married and retired with a pension as well as Social Security, and living in a nice suburban home. He also has a son who’s a salesman, and a Grandson who goes to college. He complements that, although he became “a real American”, it took him a lifetime to achieve.