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A film that allows you to evaluate a socio-political theme, strongly felt in Italy, from the perspective of the victims, first introducing the Senegalese culture and then following the migratory odyssey of two young boys towards an unknown Europe.

The journey from Dakar to Sicily, through the desert and sea, is inspired by real events lived by interviewed migrants.

The hardness and ruthlessness of these events is sweetened by dreamlike, magical, even mythological inserts, as if the told realities reached a level of incredibility such as to take the form of a fairy tale.

The choices of photography, screenplay and soundtracks are excellent and sometimes they elevate the raw scenes to a poetic level.

This marvellous film is a real piece of art, beautiful and terribly painful at once. I left the theatre shivering and I could not think about much else for days.

This is the realistic story of a couple of young Senegalese boys, who want to go after their dreams and leave their homeland to get to Europe, mistakenly perceived as the land where dreams come true. Unfortunately their decision leads them to an ordeal, a hellish journey in which survival is all they are left with.

What hurts terribly is the fact that what you see on screen is what actually happens in reality, in a world which is falling apart more and more and in which humanity has lost every sense of being human.

We always think that the devil is an entity hidden in an outer dimension, but in my opinion it is actually in human beings themselves...

Nevertheless the most beautiful and moving aspect of this incredible movie is that the protagonists don't lose their humanity, their compassion and their love, they are not turned into the devils that captured them. This is exactly the point where we should all start from...

At times this is a really quite harrowing film to watch as we follow two cousins "Seydou" (Seydou Sarr) and "Moussa" (Moustapha Fall) on one hell of a journey. They are still going to school in Dakar, but have secretly dreamed of heading to Europe. The work hard in their spare time, and try to keep their mother's in the dark until the time comes to start their journey. Getting from their homeland is comparatively easy - they get a bus, but once they begin their travels in earnest, that's when they (and we) encounter the appalling people traffickers who try to get them across the Sahara to Libya where even worse awaits them. The venality of the human spirit is writ hugely here as people are beaten, tortured, imprisoned and sold and with the boys briefly separated, we now focus on the tribulations of the determined and strong-willed "Seydou" who must get his friend to an hospital - even if that means driving a boat full of fellow migrants himself across the Mediterranean to Sicily! The two boys are super here, there's a chemistry between them that shows well their stoicism, perseverance and loyalty to each other - in the face of some fairly eye-watering ghastliness. It's not without it's humour and the effectiveness of their facial expressions isn't wasted on the camera on these occasions. These two are engaging and I felt as invested in their success as I felt disgusted by man's gross inhumanity to those so apparently vulnerable that they barely had the clothes they (sort of) stood up in. If you saw "Flee" (2021) then you'll have an idea what you are in for, only this time we have some stunning real photography of this planet when it's at is most arid, hostile and unforgiving. I can't think this will ever get too general a cinema release, but if you do get a chance then it's well worth catching.

I always had a negative mindset about illegal immigrants, but here, in this outstanding movie, I found it so much easier to understand how difficult it is to leave everything you have to live a normal life. It shows how unquestionably unfair life can be for some people, dealing with hundreds of difficulties just to be able to pursue a dream which can not be true in their own country. I believe, all of us, as humans have this amazing ability to find a better way to help preventing this mount of pain for people like these teenagers. And this movie changed my perspective about this crisis. I am expectantly waiting to see a better life for every human, regardless of where on this planet they are living.

It's really hard to watch, as a privileged European. Being that comfortable, in a movie theatre, knowing that everything you see is true and is happening right now to people that was just born on the other side of our common sea, makes your stomach sick.

I loved it, and yet I don't know if I could see it again. Makes you feel helpless.

On the bad side (yes the other one was the good sire), it is too fast on some parts, you feel like they are skipping a lot. The story was probably just too long to be told in 2h. Some characters are not developed enough, they lack depth. I also felt like the true story was a little sweetned, to make it easier to watch.