Luzzu

Malta's official submission to 2022's Oscars is beautiful, authentic, simple and emotional. Story is interesting and in a simple beautiful way it tackles powerful topics like sacrifice, tradition and family. It's that kind of movies that say so much by saying almost nothing. Lead performance is superb.

"Luzzu" starts innocently enough with a solitary fisherman plying his trade, and though it touches on a wide variety of big topics - fatherhood, tradition, working-class struggles, Brexit" as well as a thoughtful character study, it never loses the charm of the opening minutes. A story about a third generation Maltese fisherman, played by an actual Maltese fisherman, not only feels true, but has a warm vibe only good fiction can bring. You can almost smell the sea breeze.

Stamped with his baby footprint, "Luzzu" is the colourful family boat passed down for generations, that serious family man Jesmark Scicluna puts to sea on a daily basis. Trouble is the fishing industry is morphing into an unsustainable one, for the little guys anyway. A new born with special medical needs, and thus costs, puts a strain on the family, and Jesmark is asked to consider a career change.

Squeezed by big fish, various restrictions, and cutthroat, often illegal competition, this really is a lone man vs. The sea tale. While Jesmark's decision is a life altering one, and deftly describes the current political situation of many smaller European strugglers, it plays second fiddle to the personal trials of the defiant fisherman. A man of few words, he carries the weight of his world on broad shoulders, seeking to hold on to his heritage right to the breaking point.

Though forced to play the new game in town, a seemingly beaten Jesmark closes the movie with a moving parable to his infant son. A story about a boat, which over the years has been patched up so many times that very little of it remains, but yet, it still remains that boat. "Luzza" is a clever and affectionate tale about conflict, struggle, family, and the determination to retain one's humanity. A winner all around.

• hipCRANK.

As a British expat. Living in Malta, this film gave a really good insight into the tensions between traditional Malta and the current fishing industry. Whilst it's setting was magnificent and showed off Malta, the story could have been anywhere where independent small business owners are drowing under a sea of bureaucratic red tape whilst the larger players merrily sidestep whatever the regulations are, secure in the knowledge that who they know/ pay, will ensure that any repercussions will be limited. Not so the little man, where the enforcement of often petty regulations are carried out with draconian fervour, largely because those charged with the task can only realistically catch the least powerful players.

The films is gritty and realistic, the acting powerful, the story line sad with a dark commentary on the effect of globalisation for us all.

Well worth watching.

A man attempts to keep up the family tradition of fishing with a small wooden boat. Malta makes a stunning setting for the story. The EU has made it almost impossible for the small time fishermen to make a living. The underground economy is a dark and sad commentary on globalization. The cast is excellent and Luzzu is one of the best films of the year.

Old wine in new jugs. With the advent of globalization and modernization, many ancient ways of life have been forced to die out, sadly but inexorably. The author leaves behind a possible answer: if these relics are the same "Ship of Theseus", then they can be eternal.