Captain, Italy’s bet to win a new Oscar

I captainthe film by Matteo Garrone, director of Gomorrah AND Dogman, begins in an unexpected way for this director’s cinema. There is no violence.

Seydou wakes up due to the noise his little sisters make in the house where they live together. She is in Dakar, Senegal, his dream is to be a musician and be successful in Europe. That’s why he and another young man, his cousin Moussa, plan to go to Italy.

Seydou’s mother freaks out when her son tells her he wants to go to Europe, but Seydou doesn’t tell her that he and Moussa have been saving up to make their dream come true, traveling illegally, of course.

And of course everything will happen to them while crossing the Sahara desert, to reach Libya they will be defrauded, tortured and 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 the horrors, offer truly beautiful and shocking images.

Silver Lion in Venice

The director won the Silver Lion for best director at last year’s Venice Film Festival and tackles a hot topic in the area: the flow of refugees crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.

Garrone has chosen Seydou Sarr, who like many other cast members, had no prior acting experience. Seydou won the Marcello Mastroianni award for best young film actor in the official competition in Venice.

Not only does he do very well, but also the young man who is always hopeful, even if everything goes against him. Seydou, the character, carries within himself an idea of ​​idealism.

The images close to the ending, which give the title to the film nominated this year for the Oscar as best international film, are moving. There is Seydou, in the role of captain of a precarious boat, which himself transports hundreds of African immigrants, headed to Sicily.

The film pivots between docudrama and mythological realism, with Seydou visiting an African sorcerer and then dreaming of saving a desert woman who can no longer walk. You may have seen the photo of her: he is holding her hand, like a kite.

But not even there, far from the more graphic scenes of violence I captain it loses verisimilitude. It’s a portrait of true brutality, but the Roman never loses his way, and the film never loses its humanitarian side either.

Garrone and his director of photography Paolo Carnera change the colors depending on the situations. Notice how the last images of the trip are shown with greater harshness, under that sun that is perceived as burning.

He won’t have an easy life OscarWhere Area of ​​interestanother release this week, it’s multi-nominated and competing in the international film category.

“I captain”

Drama. Italy/Belgium/France, 2023. Original title: “I captain”. 122′, SAM 16. From: Matteo Garrone. With: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo. Rooms: Hoyts Abasto, Cinemark Palermo, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter.