Welcome to the USA

Welcome to the USA is the first film about gay individuals to be made in Kazakhstan. I don’t know much about Kazakhstan cinema. Like most people, the closest I’ve seen is Borat. Welcome to the USA is basically the polar opposite of Borat.

Welcome to the USA‘s lead character is Aliya, a lesbian living in Kazakhstan. At the start of the movie, she wins a green card to the United States. But before she can immigrate, there are certain things she has to wrap up at home. The first is telling her mother, an issue which is compounded by the fact that her sister also has news to break to their mother. The unpleasant husband of Aliya’s sister has gotten another woman pregnant and has since married her. Aliyah also breaks the news to her friends and casual lover, not all of whom are supportive. Finally, Aliyah needs to obtain permission to actually leave the country in order to immigrate to the United States.

Welcome to the USA is very much one of those films that tries to normalize the queer experience. Gays, they’re just like us! Sometimes they eat bread that happens to be mouldy and have to deal with bad drivers in a mall parking lot. There is a place for these narratives. Especially in a situation such as this where Welcome is the first film focusing on gay characters for the country. However, narratives of characters living everyday lives are rarely if ever the most interesting.

The film is fairly critical of Kazakhstan. There’s a focus on Kazakhstan nationalism as one of the factors that makes Aliyah and other LGBTQ+ people’s lives difficult. Aliyah’s brother-in-law is a sexist, nationalist bastard and clearly supposed to be a representation of a larger subsection of the community who share his traditionalist, nationalist views. And he is not a charming poster child. There’s also probably a lot more nuanced critique and commentary about Kazakhstan that’s going right over my head. Lots of characters in the film probably represent commonly held attitudes but shit if I know or understand them.

The film paints a fascinating picture of what it is like to be queer in Kazakhstan. It’s a very tight-knit community out of necessity. One of Aliyah’s main fascinations with the USA is the amount of choice of openly queer women on dating apps in America. In Kazakhstan, her lover is also her ex who’s involved with another woman who she also has major arguments with about their future. But because of so few options, these relationships persist as it’s either them or no one.

Welcome to the USA’s main theme is that it’s not fun to be gay in Kazakhstan and it definitely got that message across. Still, is it the most gripping or interesting film? No. I don’t want to be too critical of a film that’s so bold and important and that I also lack the cultural awareness to fully understand. However, the reality is if I saw this same movie made in a country that has an established queer scene I would give it a negative review for being boring. Luckily for Welcome, that isn’t the case and it remains a bold and important film, if one that is understated and occasionally slow.

Overall rating: 5.5/10

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