Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Immigrants will always be very vulnerable in their host countries, and this is clearly the message in Dancer in the Dark.

Selma Jezkova is an immigrant in the US working in the factory. During her free time, she goes to the theater with her friend Kathy and most times we see her rehearsing in a musical. Her life revolves around sounds--- dancing and singing, but above all else, her son Gene. She works real hard and secretly saves even harder so her son can have an eye operation because of a hereditary eye disease. Selma and Gene live in Bill and Linda Houston's property and as we see in the first part of the film, they enjoyed the two's hospitality and care. Bill would take care of Gene while Selma is away and Linda plays the generous neighbor when she gives the mother and son a tin of candies and would hear none of Selma's offer to pay higher rent when the latter learned of the Houston's financial problems.

But ironically, it is this American couple that will tear the mother and son apart when Bill steals Selma's savings to save himself. He also lies to Linda saying that Selma tries to seduce him. When Selma kills Bill upon the latter's insistence after being accidentally shot, she ends up in prison awaiting her death sentence. 

The mystery is that not once did Selma mention Bill's secret about his financial problems and Linda's consumerism in the court No, she just accepted whatever is said to her and even daydreams during the hearing when she hears the sound of the pencil's friction against paper as someone draws her and the courtroom scenario. While she is accused of betrayal, her stubbornness against revealing the whole truth (which only the audience knows) makes her the trustworthy one between her and Bill.

"The defendant not only perpetrated the most callous, well-planned homicide in recent memory. There's also a fundamentally selfish individual who cynically hides behind a handicap. (...) This woman found trust and friendship when she sought refuge in our country and the evidence will show that she has repaid such kindness with betrayal, robbery, and murder inflicted upon the very people who opened their homes and hearts to her. "

It is ironic that Selma whose happiness is for her son and not for herself is seen to be the selfish cynical one whereas, in the narratives (and who knows for sure also in the media) the Americans are portrayed as victims of immigrants' lack of gratitude. And it leads one to speculate that maybe the reason why Selma stayed quiet is because she knows how rotten the system is, that as immigrant, her words do not have the same weight as her host countries citizens, that it is useless to fight since her very position does not afford her equal treatment despite America's oft-proclaimed equality, but discrimination in fact runs high.

The last scene where Selma was executed in the middle of her singing

Moreover, another contrast between Selma and Bill is that we see the pureness in Selma who is known for her love for the performance arts and thus more attuned to humanity, whereas Bill, morally lacking and corrupt, is a police officer about to be promoted. The movie is an intelligent take on the American Dream, one that means different to different people. For Selma it means being able to provide for her son. For the Americans it is to be materially wealthy regardless of morality and we see this even more when Selma is accused as being "a communistic woman" vis a vis the capitalistic Americans. In the eyes of the Americans, being capitalistic is more important than having virtues. It should be noted however that whatever "greatness" America has, it owes to its immigrants because it is the immigrants who work hard, who study hard, and who are behind some of the world's greatest innovations. These are celebrated in the media with emphasis that they are Americans although ethnically they are not. But when these same immigrants commit crimes, the media would prey on them and emphasize their immigrant status. When they desire to "Make America great again", do they subconsciously admit that there is only rottenness and decadence?