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This is a superb film from Italian director Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Dogman). We follow Seydou and Moussa – two 16 year old residents of Dakhar, Senegal who against the wishes of their families want to be smuggled into Europe for a better life and to send money back home. They are warned that the journey is dangerous but they set off anyway. We see them travel through Africa, across the Sahara desert, come into contact with the Libyan mafia, smuggled across borders, tortured, get fake passports and all the other nasty side of humanity that comes with the territory of people smuggling.
There is a lot packed into the 2 hour runtime. So much so that it could have been a 3 hour film, lots of fades and transitions in the editing process from scene to scene. Seydou Sarr’s performance as the lead is nothing short of unstoppable. How he didn’t end up with major awards for this is scandalous but unsurprising I suppose. The film also has the most beautiful end credits I‘ve seen in some time.
At it’s heart this film is a reminder to us how much some of those in search of a better life have to go through, to even begin that search. It’s brutal at times and completely heartbreaking at others. Anybody should be able to search for a better life – and they shouldn’t have to go through hell to try and find it.
Io Capitano (2023)
This is a superb film from Italian director Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Dogman). We follow Seydou and Moussa – two 16 year old residents of Dakhar, Senegal who against the wishes of their families want to be smuggled into Europe for a better life and to send money back home. They are warned that the journey is dangerous but they set off anyway. We see them travel through Africa, across the Sahara desert, come into contact with the Libyan mafia, smuggled across borders, tortured, get fake passports and all the other nasty side of humanity that comes with the territory of people smuggling.
There is a lot packed into the 2 hour runtime. So much so that it could have been a 3 hour film, lots of fades and transitions in the editing process from scene to scene. Seydou Sarr’s performance as the lead is nothing short of unstoppable. How he didn’t end up with major awards for this is scandalous but unsurprising I suppose. The film also has the most beautiful end credits I‘ve seen in some time.
At it’s heart this film is a reminder to us how much some of those in search of a better life have to go through, to even begin that search. It’s brutal at times and completely heartbreaking at others. Anybody should be able to search for a better life – and they shouldn’t have to go through hell to try and find it.
9/10
