Io Capitano

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 tor...

At times this is a really quite harrowing film to watch as we follow two cousins "Seydou" (Seydou Sarr) and "Moussa" (Moustapha Fall) on one hell of a journey. They are still going to school in Dakar, but have secretly dreamed of heading to Europe. The work hard in their spare time, and try to keep their mother's in the dark until the time comes to start their journey. Getting from their homeland is comparatively easy - they get a bus, but once they begin their travels in earnest, that's when they (and we) encounter the appalling people traffickers who try to get them across the Sahara to Libya where even worse awaits them. The venality of the human spirit is writ hugely here as people are beaten, tortured, imprisoned and sold and with the ...