A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
We are, as FDR famously told the DAR, a nation of immigrants. To put it in Southern terms, to begin with none of us was from around here. And since almost all of us trace the family tree back to immigrants, you would think Hollywood would come up with good movies on the subject. And you would be right!
The fairly recent Brooklyn (2015) is the story of one Irish immigrant, Ellis Lacey. She is played by the outstanding Saorise Ronan (recently seen as Jo in Little Women (2019). She has a difficult time adjusting to America. She meets and marries an Italian-American plumber just as news arrives of the death of her sister in Ireland. She goes back home to help her mother and finds a satisfying life in her old hometown. Her painful choice to go back to America and her husband is the soul of this wonderful film. It was nominated as best film, but lost to Spotlight. Miss Ronan and the screenplay were also nominated and lost. 
Perhaps the best film about the influx of Latinos is El Norte (1983) which rings true across the 30+ years since its making. Director Gregory Nava assembled a cast of unknowns resulting in a documentary-like feel. A brother and sister flee their war-torn village in Guatemala seeking a better life. Their trip north is harrowing but only half the story. Their attempts to adapt to their new home with few language or other skills is by turns funny and moving. Their story is not easily forgotten. 
The polar stars of movies about immigrants in America weren’t even made by Americans, but by Swedes. The Emigrants (1971) features the familiar-to-Yanks faces of Liv Ullman and Max Von Sydow as a Swedish husband and wife who immigrate to farm in Minnesota. The hardships and triumphs of this family and their friends is fascinating and moving. 
Even better is the sequel The New Land (1972) with the same characters (played by the same actors) which carries the immigrants to the ends of their lives here. Imagine leaving America to go farm in a country you’ve never seen and where you don’t speak the language, and imagine never going back! Warning: these two marvelous films have been cobbled together, and dubbed,  as a TV show. Avoid this bastardized version and stick to the originals!
America, America (1963) is Elia Kazan’s love song to his adopted land and is a wonderful film about the experience of Greek immigrants to our shores, including an unforgettable trip through Ellis Island. 
Just as good is Barry Levinson’s superb Avalon (1990) about Jewish immigrants to his beloved Baltimore. The importance of family, and the impact of the new land on it, are the core of this fine film. 
For comic relief, there is Robin Williams running wild as a would-be Russian defector in Moscow On The Hudson (1984).
Finally, look for the excellent Gangs Of New York (2002). Leonardo Di Caprio and Daniel Day-Lewis star in Martin Scorcese’s tribute to the Irish in early New York. 
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All but Gangs are suitable for 10 and up. Gangs is adult fare.