I must admit I haven’t followed Matteo Garrone’s career closely since he burst onto the world stage with Gomorrah. This grueling but captivating film reaffirms his place in the front ranks of filmmakers, as he puts us in lockstep with its two protagonists: teenage cousins in Dakar who have a burning desire to go to Italy and find a better life. They are played by newcomers Seydou Sarr (who was singled out as Best Promising Actor at the Venice Film Festival) and Moustapha Fall. A man in their Senegalese village who arranges such illicit trips tries to discourage them but they cannot be deterred; they have been planning and saving for six months.
Whatever you might imagine about their journey as migrants is nothing compared to the painful reality they face. Their naïveté makes them sitting ducks for every jackal whose path they cross. A truck deposits them in the middle of the Sahara desert where they are forced to continue on foot, leaving others in their group behind. There is no discussion of conscience but we can see the pain in young Sarr’s eyes as he is forced to abandon a woman who reminds him of his own mother.
The trip is arduous but completely credible, from the torture they suffer in a Libyan prison to the unexpected kindness of a fellow captive who takes Sarr along on a building assignment and teaches him a trade as they construct a wall, then an elaborate tiled fountain.
This is storytelling at its most visceral, painted on a broad canvas that reminded me of a saga by David Lean. Garrone and his screenwriting partners (Massimo Ceccherini, Massimo Gaudioso, Andrea Tagliaferri) interviewed people who had undergone this experience, which accounts for the feeling of authenticity in every scene. Paolo Carnera’s cinematography enhances the feeling that we are experiencing this journey right alongside the star-crossed cousins, not viewing it from a safe distance. In a year when all five Oscar contenders for International Film are so worthy, this one captured my heart.
P.S. Matteo Garrone is appearing with his film at several theaters in Los Angeles this weekend:
Friday, February 23rd
Landmark Sunset 5
6:45PM
Q+A with Director Matteo Garrone
Saturday, February 24th
Landmark Sunset 5
6:45PM
Q+A with Director Matteo Garrone