Io Capitano: Film Review
Matteo Garrone‘s Io Capitano was nominated for the Best International Feature Film Oscar this year and deservedly so. What a picture!
The film stars newcomer Seydou Sarr as Seydou, a teenage boy who wants to leave his home in Dakar, Senegal and move to Italy to escape poverty and fulfil his dream of becoming a music star. His mum demands he stay at home but he ignores her wishes and flees with his cousin Moussa (Moustapha Fall).
The journey to Italy is treacherous – they have to cross the Sahara Desert through Mali and Niger to reach Libya before getting a boat across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. And if the brutal journey wasn’t enough on its own, they constantly encounter people who want to exploit their youth and desperation to make money.
The journey is dangerous and the likelihood of a Senegalese person making it to Italy in one piece is low so we care for these boys as we watch them trying to make it despite the pessimistic odds. Naturally, it is a hard-hitting watch; there is so much death along the way and bodies being tortured or discarded like they mean nothing. But it’s not totally dark and bleak, there are plenty of moments of light and hope, particularly towards the end.
Non-professional actor Sarr won the Marcello Mastroianni Award, which recognises emerging talent, at the Venice Film Festival last year and that is a testament to his sensational performance. He gets put through the wringer throughout this film and it’s a harrowing, emotionally taxing piece, but he makes it seem effortless. He never looks like he’s acting, it’s so damn natural.
Io Capitano is a powerful film that should hopefully give viewers more compassion and sympathy for migrants and what they have to go through to find a better life.
In cinemas from Friday 5th April