I captainthe film by Matteo Garrone, the director of Gomorrah y Dogman, starts in an unexpected way for this director’s cinema. There is no violence.
Seydou wakes up because of the noise his little sisters are making in the house where they live together. He is in Dakar, Senegal, his dream is to be a musician and succeed in Europe. That’s why he and another young man, his cousin Moussa, plan to travel to Italy.
Seydou’s mother goes crazy when her son tells her that he wants to go to Europe, but Seydou doesn’t tell her that he and Moussa have saved up to make their dream come true, traveling illegally, of course.
And of course everything will happen to them when crossing the Sahara desert, in order to reach Libya they will be defrauded, tortured, and they will be separated when the police discover that Moussa hid his money in his anus, they will go to prison, and…
There it is already similar to Garrone’s films, which, while not sparing horrors, delivers some truly beautiful, shocking images.
Silver Lion in Venice
The director won the Silver Lion for best director at last year’s Venice Film Festival and addresses a hot topic in the area: the flow of refugees crossing the Mediterranean towards Europe.
Garrone chose Seydou Sarr, who like many other cast members, had no prior acting experience. Seydou is and won the Marcello Mastroianni award for best young performer in films in official competition in Venice.
Not only is he doing very well, as is the young man who is always hopeful, even if everything works against him. Seydou, the character, carries within his soul an idea of idealism.
The images near the ending, which give the title to the film nominated for the Oscar for best international film this year, are impressively moving. There is Seydou, as captain of a precarious boat, himself transporting hundreds of African immigrants, bound for Sicily.
The film pivots between the realism of docudrama and the mythological, with Seydou visiting an African sorcerer and then dreaming that he rescues and saves a woman from the desert who can no longer walk. You may have seen, perhaps, her photo: he is holding her hand, like a kite.
But not even there, far from the most graphic scenes of violence I captain loses verisimilitude. It is the portrait of real brutality, but the Roman never loses his way, and the film does not lose its humanitarian side either.
Garrone and his cinematographer Paolo Carnera change colors depending on the situations. Notice how the later images of the trip are shown more harshly, under that sun that one perceives as burning.
He won’t have it easy in the Oscarwhere Area of interestanother release this week, is multi-nominated and competes in the international film category.
Drama. Italy / Belgium / France, 2023. Original title: “I captain”. 122’, SAM 16. Of: Matteo Garrone. Con: Seydou Sarr, The Best Of Seydou Sarr. Salas: Hoyts Abasto, Cinemark Palermo, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter.