SummaryTwo Senegalese teenagers living in Dakar yearn for a brighter future in Europe. Yet between their dreams and reality lies a treacherous journey through a labyrinth of checkpoints, the scorched Saharan desert, a fetid North African prison and the vast waters of the Mediterranean where thousands have died packed inside vessels barely fit f...
SummaryTwo Senegalese teenagers living in Dakar yearn for a brighter future in Europe. Yet between their dreams and reality lies a treacherous journey through a labyrinth of checkpoints, the scorched Saharan desert, a fetid North African prison and the vast waters of the Mediterranean where thousands have died packed inside vessels barely fit f...
You can get the facts about these migrants anywhere, but Garrone knows the tool of cinema is more effective. By presenting these adolescents in all their fragility and strength, he comes as close as is possible to getting us to feel how they felt. Io Capitano is as unflinching as it is robust with empathy.
Io Capitano doesn’t try to convince viewers whether Seydou, Moussa, and all the other migrants have a right to seek a better life. What it does do, however, is tell their story in a way that makes them far more human and relatable than most of the news stories we see nowadays.
Nos últimos anos, tanto o Senegal quanto a Líbia têm enfrentado conflitos sociais de diferentes naturezas, e a questão das pessoas que atravessam o Mediterrâneo para chegar à Itália está diretamente ligada a esses conflitos. Com muita sutileza, "Io capitano" mostra a vida de dois primos em Senegal, que juntam dinheiro às escondidas para tentar uma vida melhor na Europa. O problema todo estará no percurso.
Embora o Senegal tenha uma longa tradição de estabilidade política em comparação com alguns de seus vizinhos, não está isento de conflitos internos. Questões étnicas, disputas de terra e tensões entre comunidades têm surgido em várias partes do país, particularmente nas regiões do sul e do leste. O desemprego, especialmente entre os jovens, tem sido uma fonte significativa de descontentamento social. Muitos jovens senegaleses enfrentam dificuldades econômicas devido à falta de oportunidade, muito embora, relativamente falando, o país seja menos ruim que a Líbia para se viver.
É importante pontuar isso pois os meninos, em que pese o descontentamento e a tomada de decisão de atravessar para a Europa, não era de todo uma vida descartável: por diversas vezes no longa eles sentem saudade de casa, e não foi à toa que em Senegal conseguiram juntar dinheiro.
Encontrando pelo seu caminho traficantes e oportunistas, o filme começa a ficar pesado no deserto, com a cena de uma morteonde meu coração começou a disparar. A partir de então, ficamos preso na cadeira, pois não se sabe em quem mais confiar: os meninos são separados, e vemos uma estrutura de poder de dar arrepio a qualquer defensor de direitos humanos: de trabalho escravo à torturas explícitas.
Por muitas vezes é um filme difícil, mas há aqui um esforço para criar uma ou outra cena lírica, com uma fotografia que ajuda bastante. Pode-se dizer que desperta uma série de gatilhos, e não é nada fácil, mas no fundo ouve certa tentativa de higienizar algumas cenas e, com isso, por mais agonizante que seja, é um cinema lindo, visceral, que merece o reconhecimento. É meu favorito dos filmes estrangeiros no Oscar de 2024, ainda que não seja o favorito da academia.
Uma jornada cheia de emoção, reviravoltas e vontade de muda de vida e mostrando o quão cruel pode ser você ir atras dos seus sonhos. Você não sente o tempo passar
Central to the spirit of the film is Seydou, a gangly string bean with a smile that warms the screen; a teenager who is still enough of a child to believe that manhood means never being afraid. It’s a gorgeous, sensitive performance from Sarr.
Garrone knows exactly where he’s leaving both his heroes and his audience: on the agonising cusp of a happily-ever-after his film makes you want to will into existence.
While the landscapes, especially in the parched Sahara section of the story, are dazzling, Carnera’s camera always keeps the focus on the humans, sometimes specks seen from great distances moving through the sand and sometimes studied in close-ups that fill the widescreen canvas.
Aside from the requisite wide shots of sweeping desert, sea, and cityscapes marking the various stages of the journey, Garrone (the Italian director of Gomorrah and Tale of Tales, among others) keeps the camera close to Seydou, and Sarr’s skill at the subtle transformation of his emotional responses from, say, heartbreak to happiness (and back again) is incredibly compelling to watch.
Mr. Garrone seems so desperate to create a powerful humanist plea that he has neglected to provide his movie with the detail and artistry that would give it force, and he conspicuously concludes his story just before it would have started to become more contentious—and more interesting.
Two Senegalese teenagers (Seydou Sarr & Moustapha Fall) decide to migrate to Europe, where they expect a better life. This film details their treacherous journey, which includes cruel smugglers, a punishing desert, a rickety boat and other difficult challenges. The experience is harrowing, creating an almost constant tension as they encounter each new obstacle. The 2 actors are essentially first-timers and they beautifully portray the spirit and strength of their characters. Director Matteo Garrone not only captures the essence of their culture, he adds a few moments of fantasy to break up the stress. The cinematography is sometimes stunning, esp. in the desert scenes. Thru it all, this story of determination offers a devastating look at the migrant crisis, while the personal perspective adds affecting emotional resonance
Matteo Garrone tackles the problem of African immigration to build a story based on the odyssey of two Senegalese teenagers in search of the European dream, so dangerous and devalued. Although the film flirts with misery porn during various scenes, the formidable performance of newcomer Seydou Sarr gives it the necessary tact when approaching this topic. With this work, Garrone channels the neorealism of the great Italian masters and even incorporates several segments of magical realism. However, the latter does not lead to anything significant. Although the white perspective on the refugee crisis may be problematic, Garrone's immersion is as intimate as epic.
Movies about the flood of new immigrants into Europe from Africa and the Middle East have been growing in number in recent years. Depictions of the many hardships these individuals face (sometimes graphic and disturbing in nature) have been making their way into the cinematic community, showing exactly what these desperate freedom seekers are up against. And this latest offering in this genre does just that in telling the story of two Senegalese teens as they make the perilous attempt to find their way to a new life in Italy. Writer-director Matteo Garrone tells the harrowing tale of cousins Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall) as they wrestle with the challenges of the environment, unrepentant scammers, forced detention and torture by authorities and criminals, and the harsh conditions of crossing the Mediterranean. However, while the film features fine performances, cinematography and location settings, it all seems a little too familiar, a tale with a hole-filled plot and a series of cliffhangers that seem to have all-too-convenient solutions to them. It’s also overlong, filled with a variety of sequences that could have been easily pared back without losing anything meaningful. Nevertheless, these shortcomings are countered, to a certain extent, by an intriguing mystical and surreal subtext, which is actually the picture’s strongest (though most woefully underdeveloped) aspect. In light of the foregoing, then, I must admit that I’m somewhat mystified how this release managed to secure so many accolades, including Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for best international film, especially given how many other better offerings were available. “Io Capitano” is one of those movies that makes a good instructional picture for those who’d like to know more about the plight of this new wave of immigrants, but its hype seems a bit inflated in the face of previous releases on this subject and other foreign language offerings more deserving of the praise.
Production Company
Archimede,
Rai Cinema,
Tarantula,
Pathé,
Logical Content Ventures,
Canal+,
Ciné+,
Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF),
Voo & Be tv,
Proximus,
Ministero della Cultura (MiC),
Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles,
Shelter Prod,
Taxshelter. be,
Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral Belge,
Wallimage,
Centre Cinématographique Marocain,
Regione Lazio