Lifeboat

Today's media plays much attention on the border crossing but now many refugees are crossing the Mediterranean sea. People and organizations are trying to stop illegal human trafficking so that there no unidentified deaths. This short documentary by Skye Fitzgerald and funded by the New Yorker focuses on Sea Watch, a non profit group based in Europe.

The documentary encapsulate refugee stories coming from Africa and the Middle East. The film tries to show how Sea Watch manages to reach the boats of people on the sea then communicate to certain children and women suffering from dehydration.

Its powerful imagery relied of coastal people and authority discovering bodies washing up to shore. What lacked (due to the film's time) is the question of why does this happen, we are left by one of the Sea Watch's member about their opinions ob global economy.

Upon a first viewing, Lifeboat put me to sleep. There is so much appeal to the pathos here that I could not find it in myself after a long day to sit through it. There is hardly any explanation in this short. Rather, it follows Jon Castle, the captain of a ship helping Sea Watch, who save migrants fleeing Africa and the Middle East for a better life in Europe across the Mediterranean Sea. The endeavor is noble and honorable. I really did admire some of his quotes about the heart and helping other people. However, the whole movie felt too long for its subject matter. There are many shots and scenes I felt did not need to be included. Had the film been pared down to, say, 15 minutes, it may have been more easily digested. I got the idea of how serious the situation was when I saw the figures on the screen and a few of the interviews. It was a shame to see how they were living and trying to cross the Sea. The film did not compel me to take action in any way, though. It merely told me about a topic I have already seen so many times in news headlines. I would call this movie passable.

This Oscar-nominated (at time of writing) short film aims to put a first-person perspective on the human toil of the migrant crisis of crossings from Libya into Europe. It opens with the recovery of a body back in Libya (one of many), and then joins a non-profit organization running boats rescuing those on overcrowded and precarious boats. In the second half it presents some first hand interviews to understand why people are willing to risk their life to get across the sea.

In watching it, the lack of commentary is very obvious. We do get talking heads, and of course the makers have their political opinion, but it doesn't have anyone pushing a bigger political point. Of course it feels like it is very much leaning one way - but I think that is less politics, and more humanity coming through. I confess at the start I was ready to play devil's advocate on the bigger picture, and be annoyed at any simplistic suggestion that everyone should be allowed to travel to Europe for a better life - and I do doubt this is the solution; however what the film does well is to force the viewer to say that in the faces of young men and women fleeing slavery, abuse, and mistreatment - all in a place where even those not facing those things don't have a great time of it.

I imagine the film will annoy those that come from a place further to the right of me on the spectrum, but really the film is balanced. It is hard to watch because it puts you on the boats and it does a good job of simply saying "okay, tomorrow we'll fix world poverty and replace unchecked dictatorships, but in the meantime, what do we gain by leaving these people to drown?"