Gianfranco Rosi’s heartbreaking documentary won the Berlinale’s Golden Bear.
The European migrant crisis is the hot button topic that Rosi tackles this time around, one that will strike a nerve for Americans and our immigration debate. While we tend to talk about who does, and does not deserve to live here in the US, Italians on the island of Lampadusa are concerned with the more immediate job of saving the lives of desperate boat people in perilous situations at sea. Politics will come later.
These men and women will need to be absorbed into an already troubled Europe, or they’ll need to be sent back to their dangerous homelands, but as one resident put it, “If we don’t help them, who will?”
Rosi leaves the politics to the politicians and shows us the horrifying reality of overcrowded boats, a frantic SOS from one that is sinking, and a medical doctor describing the unimaginable number of dead and dying he deals with on a regular basis.
‘Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) seems almost a narrative film, with the locals playing the parts of sympathetic onlookers and aid givers, eloquently talking about their lives on the island in ways that no script could ever have lived up to. Young Samuele, for example, a happy and adventurous Italian boy doesn’t understand the anxiety he’s feeling, but his doctor does. When housing meant for 800 migrants must often accomodate 3,000 (the entire population of the island is only 6,000), everyone is affected.
Rosi doesn’t seem to care about your position on the issue, he just wants you to look at what’s happening. It reminds me of being a child watching the Vietnam war play out on TV. We saw the body bags and it wasn’t just a story in the newspaper anymore; everyone was forced to take a stand one way or the other. I think Rosi wants the same from us now.
Fuocoammare has also been nominated for a European Film Award, and begins a limited engagement in US theaters October 21.
Laemmle Fine Arts Los Angeles CA October 28 – November 3, 2016
Laemmle Playhouse 7 Pasadena CA October 28 – November 3, 2016
Lincoln Plaza Cinema New York NY October 21 – October 27, 2016
IFC Center New York NY October 21 – October 27, 2016
Lincoln Plaza Cinema New York NY October 21 – October 27, 2016
Ragtag Cinema Columbia MO October 20, 2016
Philadelphia Film Festival Philadelphia PA October 20 – October 30, 2016
Hamptons International Film Festival East Hampton NY October 9 – October 10, 2016
New York Film Festival New York NY October 7 – October 8, 2016
Oklahoma City Museum of Art Oklahoma City OK September 18 – September 20, 2016
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