The screen opens to the Atlántico Museum, in Lanzarote, Spain, where there is an exhibition of submerged sculptures to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of migrants who disappeared at sea while making the crossing to what they hoped would be a life best. Then, the camera rises to the surface, capturing from behind a woman covered in an aluminum cape, sitting at the bow of a blue boat.
Off-camera, a young girl says: “It was in July. July 18, 2014. After a year in Libya, they took me to the sea to leave. The boat that left before us capsized. Everyone is dead. On Saturday evening, we saw this huge Italian boat. They threw a ladder to take us up. I was happy. We were all saved. »
This voice is that of Stéphanie, a teenager who, at the age of 14, left her native Nigeria alone to reach Italy, in the hope of escaping poverty and being able to help her family back home. After the fear, the hunger, the cold, the incredible violence of the crossing, she finally reached the coast, certain of finding herself safe.
However, for several women from Nigeria, arriving in Europe is only the beginning of an even greater ordeal. Behind the scenes, a large and sophisticated criminal network operates to monetize their migration. As soon as they set foot on land, traffickers wait to force them into prostitution, claiming the need to pay the cost of the crossing. Held in slavery, they accumulate customers, repaying with five euros a debt of up to 50,000.
This horrible human trafficking is at the heart of the documentary After the odyssey, by Quebec filmmaker Helen Doyle. “During my travels to Italy in the early 2010s, I saw more and more young migrant men in the streets,” she tells Duty. Then, in 2016, we started talking about the phenomenon of unaccompanied minors — kids aged 16, 13, even 11, who are sent by their family at the risk of their lives; a phenomenon quickly described as a tsunami. »
Watching all this, Helen Doyle couldn’t help but wonder where the women were. Did they never attempt the crossing? “As soon as I asked the question, I felt uneasy, and I knew I had put my finger on something. I was told half-heartedly that they were taken on arrival by traffickers. »
Three destinies
One thing led to another and the documentary filmmaker carried out her investigation. “I quickly understood that there was systemic exploitation that had existed for a long time and had become very sophisticated. »
For several months, she met organizations and associations working with migrants and unaccompanied minors in Sicily. Thanks to them, she was able to have access to families and foster homes. Little by little, she gained the trust of young women ready to tell her their story.
First there is Stéphanie, mentioned above, who found refuge with a host family. “Stéphanie was a real crush, mutual, I think. She was very strong-willed and she was very aware of the situation in which several of her friends found themselves. She carried this awareness, this reflection and this journey like baggage, and she wanted to share them. » Then there is Joy, a young woman who, after having experienced prostitution, testifies openly. “She told me that it is those who subjected her to this fate who should be ashamed. » Finally, there is Sabrina, a writer, whose mother, a victim of trafficking, chose to give her up for adoption to her Italian neighbor, so that she would escape the same fate.
The reception corner
Three stories of courage, three stories of welcome. Because in addition to giving a voice to these extraordinary women, Helen Doyle turns her camera towards the communities that welcome and protect them. “I chose the angle of the meeting to deal with the complex problem of migration. I wanted to show the work that these organizations do — often led by women — in “welcomeness”, but also in respect for otherness. They are not just good and generous. They see beyond the broken being in these young girls who left, crossed a hellish road, suffered filthy things in Libya. They see a dream, courage, resourcefulness, a drive for life and survival, enormous potential. Yes, they tell them about the culture of their host country, its history, its landscapes. Yes, they teach them the language. But they also listen to their journey and their aspirations. »
In a sober and clever staging – notably to preserve the anonymity of some of the speakers – Helen Doyle manages to dissect all the complexity of the migratory route; a path dictated by vulnerability, intolerance, precariousness, instability, the despair of families ready to sacrifice one of their own to access something better. By choosing to include the projection of works from the series Pipelineby photographer Elena Perlino, who immortalized the daily lives of Nigerian women caught in trafficking in Europe, the director hammers home the humanity behind the numbers, and the power of encounter.
The filmmaker hopes that her documentary will allow viewers here to think about ways to welcome others. “That’s also why I brought a lot of light. I didn’t want the public to feel disengaged by the outrage and atrocity. I remember when Stéphanie told me, at 19, that she was pregnant. As a feminist, I felt a pang in my heart for this brilliant girl who dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Then, I took a step back. I remembered that she had lost everything, that perhaps she needed to rebuild a community, to rebuild her roots. After everything she has experienced, she still has this drive for life, this desire to break the cycle. Sometimes we want the people we welcome to be ready tomorrow morning to take up service and become the future Joanne Liu. But we must first give them back their dignity, by entrusting them as much as possible with the ropes of their own destiny. »
The documentary After the odyssey hits theaters on February 9.