Review: Migrants are people too
Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing
Many media stories about migrants who journey from Africa to Europe, across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, tend to begin when the boats first meet the shores. Other stories focus on statistics: the 2,500-plus migrants who have died or gone missing at sea in 2023, or the thousands more who lost their lives in the desert. What happens between the decision to leave home and the arrival on European soil is rarely portrayed in detail.
Io Capitano is Italian director Matteo Garrone’s entry for best international feature film at this year’s Academy Awards. In it, Garrone takes these Western, outsider perspectives and turns them on their head, capturing the tense and treacherous migrant journey through the eyes of those who live it.
The movie follows teens Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall) as they travel from Senegal to Italy, with dreams of pop stardom. For months, Seydou’s mother believes that her son and his cousin spend their days playing football. In reality they have been working as labourers, stashing away enough cash for their long-anticipated trip.
Life in Senegal for Seydou and Moussa is more or less calm, as we get a glimpse into their family life and watch them play drums at a sabar party at the beginning of the film. But the boys can’t help but want more for themselves, their desire to experience the European life they see on their phone screen superseding any warnings they were given by those around them about their plan.
This epic odyssey is anchored by the performances of its two leads, particularly that of first-time actor Sarr. His character doesn’t hide his fear or his helplessness, especially when he and Moussa are separated in the desert by a Libyan militia.
In spite of it all, he continues forward into the unknown, understanding that turning back may not be possible for him anymore.
What happens between the decision to leave home and the arrival on European soil is rarely portrayed in detail.
Garrone succeeds in showing the fullness of the migrant experience, and its truths without sensationalising. The director’s conscious choice to work with a group of consultants made up of former migrants, like Mamadou Kouassi and Amara Fofana, paid off, as their personal stories influenced what we see Seydou and Moussa go through on screen.
From being taken advantage of by the network of people who profit off the backs of migrants to the horrors and atrocities that occur in Libyan detention centres, Garrone doesn’t allow his audience to look away. Through director of photography Paolo Camera’s approach, emphasis is placed on the menacing and dangerous conditions of the reality that is migrating from Africa to Europe in this way.
In contrast, the stress and exhaustion in the desert scenes are not represented in the lush aerial shots of the Sahara, but in the close-up shots of sand-covered faces, the dehydration-induced desperation in the migrants’ voices, and the lifeless bodies that litter the desert floor.
From being taken advantage of to the horrors of Libyan detention centres, Garrone doesn’t allow us to look away.
Despite Europe being the final destination, Io Capitano is defined by the African experience and spirit. It is rooted in the desire that many people on the continent have: the promise of a better life and the need to obtain it at whatever cost.
Although Seydou – who is tasked with an impossible mission by a Libyan trafficker – is the hero of his story, his character isn’t forced into becoming the representation of all migrant stories. Io Capitano forces us to bear witness, no matter how heart wrenching it is.