Io Capitano

Io Capitano

Seydou, a teenage boy who, together with his cousin Moussa, decides to leave Dakar in Senegal and make his way to Europe. A contemporary Odyssey through the dangers of the desert, the horrors of the detention centers in Libya and the perils of the sea.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 122 minutes
  • Genre: Adventure, Drama
  • Stars: Bamar Kane, Ibrahima Gueye, Hichem Yacoubi, Issaka Sawadogo, Affif Ben Badra, Cheikh Ndiaye, Princess Erika, Mariam Kaba, Joe Lassana, Abdellah Elbkiri, Emilie Adams, Mamadou Sani, Beatrice Gnonko, Observateur Ebène, Mohamed Amine Kihel, Taha Benaim, Babacar Diop, Bidar Abdelahad, Aly Niang, Flaure B.B. Kabore
  • Director: Matteo Garrone
 Comments
  • suncicalazanski - 18 June 2024
    Beautiful scenery, gruesome journey
    This movie is appalling when it comes to scenery, camera perspective and visuals.

    However, I can't not notice that what a beauty on the screen is to us, it is a horror for so many who are escaping the violence, authoritarianism, dictatorships and poverty caused by centuries of injustice and colonization from the ancestors of us movie viewers.

    I loved the supernatural, mirage moments intertwined with hope, solidarity and cooperation that is needed to endure this extreme journey from which there is no return.

    I was especially pleased by the depiction of the following polarity - the typical teenage experience those two boys are experiencing in Senegal versus the cruel adulthood they enter over night. They should have just been innocent boys and their journey should have been a slow progression into adulthood. Instead the reality in which they find themselves is the one of torture, fights, mafia, life threatening injury and enormous responsibility for too many lives.

    Lastly, the movie ends with a pride and proclamation of victory - Io capitano.

    What the movie shockingly misses is the crueler reality that is waiting on the other side of the journey. The supposedly civilized fortress Europe armed with Frontex, militia and hostility. In other worlds, the journey didn't stop in Siciliy. The other form of torture is awaiting for them - the one of pushbacks, uncertaintily, extreme racism, violence and living undocumented for too long.

    And this is not a small element. It is the crucial one to have the story completed.
  • jetonlyme - 10 April 2024
    A powerful insight into the "back way" taken by desperate West Africans
    This was so true to life, it was easy to forget that we were watching actors. The early family scenes, the harshness of the environment and of those who seek a profit from people trying to escape poverty were all too realistic to us as my husband also made this journey 10 years ago. Some scenes were too violent to watch.

    The director plans to show the film in West African countries. I hope it will let young boys see the dangers of taking the back way and prevent deaths. Sadly, surviving the journey to Europe is not an end to the suffering of the ordeal. I hope the Senegalese and Moroccan film industry can provide more opportunities for all involved in making this powerful film.