Student 2011
Some people will change or sacrifice their values, morals or beliefs just to fit in, be accepted and live up to certain people’s expectations. “Looking For Alibrandi” directed by Kate Woods presents the issue of sacrificing different things in order to belong. Nonna Katia sacrifices her relationship with Marcus Sandford, Josephine
Alibrandi sacrifices her culture and John Barton sacrifices himself to not belong.
Each of their sacrifices are different as they want to belong to different groups but it is clear that in order to belong, sacrifices must often be made.
One way sacrifice was portrayed in the film was through Nonna. She sacrificed her relationship with Marcus in order to belong to and maintain her Italian culture. Nonna had a chance to be with the man she loved but she rejected the chance to have a better life because she wanted to belong in her family and keep her Italian culture.
Although Nonno Francesco did not treat Nonna with the respect that she deserved she still stayed with him because she did not want to disgrace her family. Nonna stated in an upset tone , “I stayed with him, that was my penance.” This shows how much Nonna did not want to stay with Nonno but still remained loyal to him. Nonna believed that if she had left with the man she had loved her family would have disowned her, so she did not leave with Marcus due to the fact that she still wanted to belong in her family and her Italian culture. Nonna also stayed with Francesco because she wanted her daughter Christina Alibrandi to belong to the community as well, Nonna stated, “It was for Christina” therefore she stayed with her husband and remained loyal in order for her daughter to belong and have a better life. In conclusion, Nonna shows through her actions that in order to belong, sacrifices must be made.
Another way sacrifice was shown was through John Barton, who sacrificed himself to not belong. In order for John to belong in his family he had to be a politician since his father and grandfather were politicians. John did not like the idea of becoming a politician, he wanted freedom and the will of being able to make decisions for himself. His family had high expectations of what he would become due to the tradition that their family had which was being involved in politics. John had temporarily belonged in his family when his father was under the illusion that John would pursue the idea of becoming a politician but John could not stand the pressure and decided to commit suicide. Before he committed suicide he wrote Josie a letter,
“… If I could be anything but what I am, I would be tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I could stay for that too. If I could be what you want me to be, I’d want to stay. But I am what I am, and all I want is freedom.” John knew that he “belonged” in society but he did not feel as if he did due to the fact that he was being pushed into being something he did not want to be so he decided to end his life in order to not belong anymore and be free from being what his father had expected him to be. Through John we can see that belonging involves sacrifice and John had sacrificed himself in order to not belong.
Another way sacrifice was portrayed was through Josie, she sacrificed her culture in order to belong to another culture and fit in with her friends. She sacrificed Tomato
Day in order to go out with her friends to the beach because she did not want to belong in the Italian culture and belong with the Australians. She wanted to belong

Student 2011 with the Australians because she was surrounded by them and did not want to be the outcast so therefore she sacrificed Tomato Day and spending time with her family and Italian community. In the beginning of the film, Josie stopped the old traditional music and changed it to something more Australian. Her family can see that she did not want to belong in the Italian community and would rather be like the
Australians, this was shown through Josie’s action when she did wear her apron, changed the music and wanted to go out to the beach with her friends instead of staying home. Her family made fun of her and said she was going to marry an
Australian and feed them fish and chips. We could see through Josie’s body language that she did not want to be at home through the act of rolling her eyes. In conclusion, it is shown that Josie had sacrificed her culture to belong.
All in all, in order to belong it involves sacrifice. It involves sacrificing different things in different situations. We can see through Nonna, Josephine and John Barton that sacrifice is something that needs to be done in order to belong in a certain group.