Fuocoammare, par-delà Lampedusa

Fuocoammare AKA Fire at Sea is a 2016 Italian documentary feature that made it through the whole 66 Berlin International Film Festival to get The Golden Bear which is the most prestigious award of the festival, and it totally deserved it.

Documentary films can be known for have a harsh look given his nature of realism and objectivity, the visual element becomes secondary when it's Reality the substance of the discourse in the movie, and also having in mind the idea of the political possibilities that this tool offers is normal to think that aesthetics are not really relevant.

In this case, Fire at Sea achieves the perfect balance between both elements: Political statement or position from a very Objective point of view; and very beautiful visual development without affect to much the reality of happenings. We are talking about a spellbinding but bittersweet piece of work that it can really shock you both painfully and delightedly, it's captivating but thrilling at the same time a really must see feature.

In Fuocoammare, Gianfranco Rosi turns his camera toward Lampedusa, a small Italian island in the Mediterranean that has become an epicenter of the European migrant crisis. But rather than adopting a journalistic, didactic tone, Rosi opts for something far more powerful: a deeply humane, observational portrait that juxtaposes the ordinary rhythms of island life with the extraordinary tragedies unfolding offshore.

Rosi's strength lies in his refusal to manipulate. He doesn't push an agenda, nor does he tell you what to feel. He trusts the images and the humanity within them to speak for themselves. There are moments of profound pain in the film: bodies pulled from the sea, testimonies of horror. Yet there is also space for silence, for breath, for dignity.

His lens lingers on faces, gestures, and sounds crafting a documentary that feels more like poetry than reportage. The island is shot with a restrained beauty: its landscapes are barren and windswept, its sea vast and unknowable. Even in scenes of suffering, Rosi avoids voyeurism, capturing instead a quiet reverence for human endurance.

What makes Fuocoammare remarkable is not only what it shows, but how it chooses to show it. Rosi's camera is never invasive, never exploitative. His sensitivity as a filmmaker lies in his ability to observe without intruding to witness suffering and resilience not with sensationalism, but with quiet, unwavering attention.

A film with such a sharp artistic take on the european migrant crisys and the everyday life of a Lampedusa's family that is a must watch for everyone.

I realize that the film was meant to show how the lives of the islanders were impacted by the refugee crisis, but it didn't. The film showed endless footage of a young boy playing, making catapults, pretending to shoot down aircraft? birds? shooting at cactus, getting his eyes tested, and a friend riding his scooter. There was footage of his family life, mama cooking, peeling vegetables, the family eating, mama making a bed. A DJ playing requests, and on, but no scenes of the interaction with the refugees/migrants. We saw the coast guard rescuing dying migrants from overcrowded boats, the immigration people processing them and the doctor examining and talking about them. There was an African migrant screaming like a gospel preacher about the hardships they had endured and those who have died en route, but for all we saw, the residents seemed to live a life apart and are totally unaffected if not unaware of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have ended up on their small island.

The film did show the comfortable orderly lives of the islanders and their comfortable homes, contrasting with the destitution of the migrants who have lost everything - their homes, jobs, family members and face an uncertain future after a hazardous and sometimes deadly journey, but other than the doctor, no one seemed particularly bothered.

Questions which were not answered, where are the migrants getting all the money for the journey, which seems to cost around $10,000 and more. Just the boat trip from Libya to Lampedusa costs between $1,500 and $850 depending on your place in the boat, and seeing as most of the migrants are from Central Africa, getting to Libya must cost ten times more. What are the smugglers doing with all their money which must run into hundreds of millions by now. Where is it being laundered. What is being done to catch the smugglers? Are the migrants really in peril and facing death, or are they being enticed by the people smugglers with false claims of a land of milk and honey. If the latter, why are they not writing (or phoning on the ubiquitous cell phones) to warn their friends and family not to come? Perhaps it is compassion fatigue, but as we saw the dead migrants being unloaded from the tiny overcrowded boat, I was reminded of the cry of 'Bring out your dead' in the days of the plague.

"Fuocoammare" was a real surprise to me. It's charm took my breath away...

I felt right at the start that this is going to be great. The colors, the photography, the sound, everything lead to show me the harmony and the inner glow of Lampedusa and it's inhabitants, and the pragmatic, dramatic contrast of the migrants.

So much Charm. Wow! This movie is relaxes, shows drama in other ways...

Usually I don't even like slow films: with few cuts, few actions: But that one...blow me away.

It's like living there, essentially with them, feeling their emotions, the salty sea air on our skin... And I think this is mainly because of the "local actors". Rossi and the Cast made a ,,capolavoro" capturing and playing their life that way.

Congratulations!