The American Tapestry (2000)

Showtimes In the 20th Century is a millenniumrelated strand of featurelength documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing In the last of the six films The American Tapestry filmmaker Gregory Nava takes viewers on an uplifting and challenging journey through the memoirs of five immigrant families each one on a quest for its own American Dream Beautifully interweaving accounts from several generations Nava composes an astonishing tapestry of personal triumphs and tragedies as each story of courage unfolds The American Dream is an elusive thing and the lives of the people in Navas film are both triumphant and tragic teeming with optimism and sometimes despair They expose the finest and worst in America as well as what we feel most magnificent and dreadful They are part of the many contrasting threads that make up the American tapestry a complex portrait of a nation at the turn of the millennium