Golden Door

#goldendoor

Rita, talking to Rosa, refers to Pietro as "The deaf mute." (0:05)

A doctor asks Pietro, "Are you blind, deaf or mute? He's not speaking. Is he mute? This one's mute!"
Pietro's father Salvatore: "There's no mute here."
Doctor: "They repatriate the deaf mutes."
"But this cure for mutes is something you have to buy."
Salvatore, referring to the medicine: "He said it's for mutes!"
"He's a mute."
"... this cure for mutes..."
"He said it's for mutes." (0:33)

Officials on Ellis Island test the immigrants for orientation: "What day is it? What month is it?.... (1:15)

Officials test Angelo's intelligence with a puzzle, then test his ability to calculate: "How many legs on a horse?" (1:21)

Officials test Salvatore (1:23), Lucy (1:25), then Pietro (1:28).

Pietro breaks his silence, speaking, apparently for the first time, to Salvatore in order to comply with his grandmother's wish that he qualify to remain in America. (1:50)

mutism | orientation | psychological testing

Filippo Pucillo, Ernesto Mahieux, Ilaria Giorgino 2006