Io Capitano [I Captain], by Matteo Garrone, and Italy’s entry for best international film for the Academy Awards. The story of two young cousins from Senegal, sixteen years old, who decide to leave home and head for Europe / Italy to make their mark on the world.
Once on their way, they join an exodus of impoverished sub-Saharan Africans making their way across the Sahel, then endless desert, and into lawless Libya hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Italy. They, with many others, are mercilessly exploited by well-organized groups who care little for the cruelty they inflict as they rob, beat, torture, and kill for money. The Africans endure, try their best to help their own, protecting who they can, comforting those in need.
The journey the two young cousins travel is typical of the dangers faced and overcome in order to cross the Mediterranean as boat people. I wonder how the film was received in Italy where the current far-right government is unmistakably anti-immigrant, especially against Black and Muslim immigrants. 9.3/10
Garrone won best director for Io Capitano at the Venice film festival in 2023. Covers some of the same themes as Zone of Interest, but in a modern context, in places where functioning government is rare. My nephew was unaware of the plight of African boat people, the dangers they face, and the tens of thousands who have drowned making the crossing from North Africa to Italy (Lampedusa, Sicily) and Malta.