Oscar-nominated Io Capitano is a harrowing drama

Italian writer-director Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Reality) takes us deep into the experience of these determined children. Photo / Supplied

Nominated for Best International Film at the Oscars, this engrossing tale of two Senegalese boys who set off on a perilous intercontinental journey in search of a new life dramatises a plight all too often relegated to minor international stories on television news.

Italian writer-director Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Reality) takes us deep into the experience as these determined children traverse a huge chunk of Northern Africa via Niger and Libya en route to the purportedly promised land of Italy.

For months, teenage cousins Seydou and Moussa have been secretly planning their escape from a life of poverty. Good son Seydou (first-timer Seydou Sarr) is in two minds about leaving his widowed mother and sisters in Dakar, but once they get the blessing of the local witch doctor, the best friends set off.

As per instructions from one of the many dubious characters who enable their mission, Moussa hides their hard-earned savings within his person lest they encounter thieves in the desert. Such details augur badly for a voyage of unimaginable desperation that is by turns traumatic and unexpectedly uplifting.

While the filmography of Cannes-winning Garrone doesn’t fit him into one particular genre, his previous pictures, from acclaimed mafia film Gomorrah and the reality TV satire Reality to his 2019 take on Pinocchio, are generally big and bombastic – and very Italian.

Io Capitano feels like a very different tack in subject and energy. Aside from punctuating scenes with African rock music – it’s a film with a boisterous soundtrack for such a grim topic – Garrone’s message is deadly serious.

Be warned – the film bluntly portrays the horrific reality of people so desperate to get to the greener grass of Europe that they are helpless in the face of mercenaries and traffickers. While trekking through the desert they pass the decaying corpses of others who have failed and there are gruelling scenes of torture at the hands of slave-trading Libyan mafia.

But Io Capitano is absolutely captivating, largely due to the quiet charisma of 16-year-old Seydou who, in his fake Gucci trousers, carries the hopeless story to its ambiguous finale. Io Capitano doesn’t seek to solve the problem but it reminds us of the enduring power of compassion and hope.

Rating out of 5: ★★★★

Io Capitano directed by Matteo Garrone is in cinemas now.