Io Capitano (2023)

• Year: 2023
• Released: 03 Jan 2024
• Country: Italy, Belgium, France
• Adwords: 13 wins & 6 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14225838/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/io_capitano
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 1080p
• Language: Wolof, French
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Drama
• Runtime: 121 min
• Writer: Matteo Garrone, Massimo Ceccherini, Massimo Gaudioso
• Director: Matteo Garrone
• Cast: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo
• Keywords: africa, europe, migration, senegal, migrant, dakar,

	7.7/10
	100% – Critics

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Io Capitano Movie Reviews

An original and welcome take on immigration and boat refugees, sometimes tense and sometimes heart warming

Saw this at the 2023 film festival Ghant (Belgium). In previous five or so years I saw lots of movies (mainly documentaries, a peak around 2017) about African immigrants wanting to move to Europe, deemed a continent with a promising future. I feared a repeat of the many predecessors. It worked out very differently, and much better than expected.

The first part is a daunting experience. We see Seydou and Moussa lose lots of money for all sorts of “services”, starting with obtaining a passport and booking a bus for the next leg in the journey. Each step costs much more money than expected. Further, no one can be really trusted, although they also get ample good advice on the route to their destiny. Positive experiences mix with even so many setbacks. The worst was that they were separated, after which unlucky event we follow only Seydou. Eventually, it all seems to end in miserable circumstances, in an unofficial prison where extortion (phone your parents to send money) is the main line of business and where torture is a common tool to achieve their goals.

The next phase is much more hopeful, earned with honest work, after which Seydou arrives in Tripoli. There they got re-united, after a near impossible search and intense asking around. A less happy reunion, when seeing that Moussa was shot in the leg when escaping from prison and can hardly walk. Together again, they try to cope with the circumstances.

The final part where they cross the Mediterranean is tense. It was also a bit peculiar, albeit it fully explains the film title. Even though the boat is full of adult men and women, they call the 16-year-old willy-nilly “captain” for each and every problem, including assisting a woman at the point of giving birth, or lifting four men who fell in the engine room back to deck level. Maybe unrealistic but it can work for viewers of similar age to identify themselves with the amateur captain. Apart from maybe the prison scenes, it makes this movie suitable for family viewing and keeping everyone’s attention.

Intense, heartbreaking, but a little too fast

It’s really hard to watch, as a privileged European. Being that comfortable, in a movie theatre, knowing that everything you see is true and is happening right now to people that was just born on the other side of our common sea, makes your stomach sick.

I loved it, and yet I don’t know if I could see it again. Makes you feel helpless.

On the bad side (yes the other one was the good sire), it is too fast on some parts, you feel like they are skipping a lot. The story was probably just too long to be told in 2h. Some characters are not developed enough, they lack depth. I also felt like the true story was a little sweetned, to make it easier to watch.

Superb filmmaking at it’s finest – do not miss.

This is one of the most outstanding movies that I’ve seen in recent years, and one that should be compulsory viewing for all.

Illuminating, heart-breaking but ultimately uplifting, LO CAPITANO casts an unflinching eye upon the gruelling journey that so many illegal immigrants undertake in the hope of a better life.

The two innocents at the heart of the story are captivating in their naivety which is quickly crushed by the brutality of the heartless opportunists who exploit them at every step.

Yet, it also conveys a message of hope and triumph of the spirit. A superb film that’s not to be missed. If I could rate it 11 out of 10, I would.