"No Hay Una Única Identidad Válida."

This scene from the French film L'Auberge Espagnole (lit. "The Spanish Inn/Hostel/Refuge", but I believe it was released in English-speaking countries under the French title; in Spanish it was Una Casa de Locos, "A House of Crazies") always gets me emotional.  Here's the dialogue:

Catalan 1: Jo parlo català senzillament perquè sóc català i perquè visc a Catalunya.
I speak Catalan simply because I’m Catalan, and because I live in Catalonia.
Isabelle: A mí me parece contradictorio defender el catalán en un momento en el que estamos construyendo Europa.
I find it contradictory to defend Catalan at the same time we’re building Europe.
Catalan 2: Yo no estoy de acuerdo. Primero porque creo que, o sea que, estamos hablando de identidades, y no hay una única identidad válida. O sea, hay muchas identidades que son perfectamente compatibles. Se trata de respeto. Por ejemplo, yo tengo por lo menos dos identidades. La identidad gambiana, que traigo conmigo mismo, y la identidad catalana. Yo no creo que sea contradictorio combinar las dos identidades.
I disagree.  First because I think, in other words, that we’re talking about identities, and there isn’t just one valid identity.  In other words, there are a lot of identities that are perfectly compatible.  It’s about respect.  For example, I have at least two identities.  The Gambian identity, which I bring within myself, and the Catalan identity.  I don’t think it’s contradictory to combine the two.

The movie takes place in Barcelona, hence some of the dialogue being in Catalan.  It also follows a moment where Isabelle (in the screencap, she's the girl in the lavender shirt) stands up to her Economics prof who's giving the class in Catalan and insists he speak Spanish instead, which he declines to do (I'll dedicate another entry to that part some other time, since it goes with the whole language politics thing.).

The main reason why I love this whole sequence and bit of dialogue is because, well, I can identify myself in it.  I am, in a way, Catalan 2, who is the African guy shown in the screencap above.  Not necessarily Catalan, but it still works in any case.  I am American by virtue of the fact that I was born in the United States to American parents, and I am also Spanish, because of the time I spent living there in that culture (those cultures...).  And I think trying to be either one or the other keeps me from being who I am.

I just love this movie.  Everyone needs to see it.