Matteo Garrone tackles the subject of African migrants in an epic journey

The director of “Gomorra” films a migratory fresco across Africa, between hell and the quest for freedom.

After the mafia of Gomorrahfame in realityor revenge in DogmanMatteo Garrone focuses on migrants in Me Captain which comes out Wednesday January 3. Film Odyssey, currently in full swing, follows two Senegalese teenagers who have chosen to go to Europe.

Epic Breath

Young Senegalese people aged 16, Seydou and Moussa decide to leave their village to migrate to Europe. A journey of some 8,000 kilometers awaits them, where their hope for a better life is undermined. A crossing of the desert, wars and imprisonments follow one another on their road to reach Istanbul, where they hope to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.

Precision and construction of the story, gripping direction and rhythmic editing can be found in Matteo Garrone’s films since Gomorrah in 2008. It is renewed in Me Captain, a picaresque epic across Africa from west to east, towards the European El Dorado. The Italian director imbues his film with an epic breath in what could be a Lawrence of Arabia of the poor.

Lark mirror

The war in David Lean’s film gives way to another fight, and other conflicts. The fight against the elements in crossing the Desert is followed by hostilities in Libya, prison, gangs, smugglers’ scams… Will the friendship and hopes of Seydou and Moussa stand the test? Their own lives are threatened at every step, in a journey full of dangers, where feelings have little room.

However, it is candor devoid of naivety, enlightened by intelligence, which will guide Seydou, carried by faith in himself and his objectives: to extirpate him and his family from poverty. But Garrone does not fail to darken this mirror that constitutes Europe for young Senegalese, and many others. From this point of view, Me Captain evoked Bako, the other shore (1979), essential film on the subject, by Jacques Champreux. Like him, Matteo Garrone favors the conviction and the strength that Seydou draws from it to achieve his ends. But the Italian’s epic style and sophisticated photography could arouse criticism aimed at the aestheticization of a human drama. However, if Matteo Garrone films his exodus in such detail, it is because the stakes and investments are enormous for those who take the road and the sea.

The sheet

Gender : Drama
Director : Matteo Garrone
Actors: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo
Country : Italy / Belgium / Luxembourg / France
Duration : 2h02
Exit : December 3, 2024
Distributer : Pathé

Warning: scenes, comments or images may offend the sensitivity of viewers

Synopsis: Seydou and Moussa, two 16-year-old Senegalese people, decide to leave their native land to join Europe. But on their way the dreams and hopes of a better life are quickly destroyed by the dangers of this journey. Their only weapon in this odyssey will remain their humanity.