In one of the opening shots of The Brutalist, the Statue of Liberty looms over a boat of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, the skewed angle by which Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) views it making the iconic statue appear upside down. It holds all the majesty and awe that American immigrants feel upon seeing the country’s most iconic landmark, but something is slightly off — literally askew. It’s a fitting introduction to director Brady Corbet’s towering post-World War II historical drama about the hollow nature of the American Dream, and the devastating sacrifices made in pursuit of it.
“It's really [about] the paradox of the immigrant struggle,” Adrien Brody tells Inverse. “And how incongruous the American Dream is with the hopes and dreams of the vast majority of people that flee hardship and oppression, that come to this great nation in hopes of assimilating and being welcomed as Americans, and yet are not.”
