Io Capitano

Oscar-nominated for best international feature, Matteo Garrone’s drama follows the migration of two teenage boys from Senegal.

The first third of this new film from the Italian director Matteo Garrone is so beguiling that it comes as no surprise at all that it is one of the five current Oscar contenders in the international feature category. Indeed, the initial impression given by Io Capitano is so strong that you feel that it could well be the winner despite the quality of its rivals. It has the immediate advantage of featuring two young players who are perfectly cast, gains from the expert colour photography of Paolo Carnera who provides stunning landscape shots and has the kind of direction which with its sense of flow creates the impression that filmmaking could not be easier.

As for its material, Io Capitano is the story of two teenage boys who are cousins living in Dakar and who plan to migrate to Europe. Seydou (Seydou Sarr) has a large family but no father and, in addition to thinking of Europe as a place offering him personal opportunities (he composes songs), he sees this as a means of earning money to support his mother and his many sisters. Equally key to this endeavour is his cousin Moussa (Moustapha Fall) since they share a close bond and have both been saving funds for this journey. Indeed, early on it is Moussa who leads the way in promoting this scheme, but in the course of the film the 16-year-old Seydou will take on the weight of the enterprise and through its hazards grow and ultimately prove himself.

Although new to films, Seydou Sarr has already won an acting award at the 2023 Venice Film Festival for his performance here and he and Fall display a natural rapport which brings real warmth to their early scenes together. The opening sequences set in Senegal feel very real and engage the viewer at once inviting close identification with the two youths. In setting up their scheme, Seydou and Moussa are warned of its dangers including the risks inherent in travelling through Mali, Niger and the Sahara Desert en route for Libya and especially the threat of being seized by rebel groups in the desert who capture migrants and force them to phone home for cash, that being the cost of obtaining their release. But, if the extreme hazards are hinted at and in part known to viewers through news stories of what migrants and refugees have experienced, Io Capitano possesses an engaging character akin to that of the picaresque save that it centres on two heroes rather than on a rogue. That gives it something of the wide appeal that was so apparent in 2019’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

For some 45 minutes or more Io Capitano works so well that some audiences may well be held captive by it right through to the end. That first section feels all of a piece even if the basically naturalistic tone is slightly stretched by the use of songs. The very first of these is not unrealistic in its presentation since it has Seydou composing a song which he and Moussa perform in the street but later on songs are occasionally heard on the soundtrack providing musical background. However, as the film proceeds the tone of it becomes inconsistent. Relatively early on there is a suspenseful sequence when it becomes possible that the passports obtained by Seydou and Moussa will be recognised as fake but such tension works well as part of a story which despite being built on harsh realities plays as a dramatic entertainment. However, in contrast to that, Garrone suddenly garnishes his film with one or two scenes that can eventually be regarded as hallucinations or dreams but which when they suddenly appear suggest instead an infusion of magical realism into the storytelling. One such scene concerns a desperate woman who is close to dying of thirst in the desert and it has Seydou seeking to rescue her, a sequence which includes images in which she flies through the air. This episode may have meaning as a reflection of the guilt that Seydou feels over leaving Senegal without having let his mother know what he was about to do but the visual stylisation does not fit the style of the film (however it should be acknowledged that some have described this work as a fairy tale narrative although to my mind given the naturalism of its opening scenes that is not how it feels).

Any worry over these touches might seem to be passing matters but yet more tonal issues arise. In its middle stages Io Capitano involves some torture scenes which would not be out of place in a decidedly grim drama but seem quite inconsistent with the comparatively light touch previously maintained. It could be argued that this change reflects the way in which the youths are naive when setting out but then encounter brutal realities yet the change plays more like an inconsistency in the film.

The later scenes are set first in Libya and then on a boat to Italy. Here the pace slows up and fresh imbalances emerge. After the strong violence belatedly incorporated, the narrative becomes more fanciful again in that it allows for the inclusion of some unlikely developments in the storytelling which would be more readily acceptable in a fable. There is also a sense at this late stage of additional drama being built in. A realistic portrayal of such a journey could indeed contain chilling details but here a voyage on an overcrowded boat is elaborated for extra impact. Not only do we have a character in need of surgery if he is not to lose a leg but there’s also a pregnant woman on board who may well lose her baby and on top of that young Seydou finds himself the inexperienced captain of the boat.

Instead of seeing Io Capitano as a work that stands well apart from the kind of films that Garrone has made in the past, one ultimately comes to regard it as akin to the delight in storytelling that was central to Tale of Tales in 2015. Those who yield to this element readily may well succumb to the early pleasures of Io Capitano and choose not to question the stylistic cohesion of what follows in the way that I do. That Garrone’s film is sincere and committed in its concern for migrants is as evident as the pleasure to be found in the performances of its two young leads. But the longer that the film went on the less it maintained its hold on me. That could well be a minority view.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo, Hichem Yacoubi, Doodou Sagna, Khady Sy, Venus Gueye, Cheick Oumar Diaw, Bamar Kane, Beatrice Gnonko, Observateur Ebène, Jackie Zappa.

Dir Matteo Garrone, Pro Paolo Del Brocco and Matteo Garrone, Screenplay Matteo Garrone, Massimo Ceccherini, Massimo Gaudioso and Andrea Tagliaferri with other contributions, Ph Paolo Carnera, Pro Des Dimitri Capuani, Ed Marco Spoletini, Music Andrea Farri, Costumes Stefano Ciammitti.

Archimede/Rai Cinema/Tarantula/Pathé/Logical Content Ventures/Canal+/Ciné+/Proximus-Altitude Film Entertainment.
122 mins. Italy/Belgium/France. 2023. US Rel: 23 February 2024. UK Rel: 5 April 2024. Cert. TBC.