The harrowing migrant story of ‘Io Capitano’ is pope-approved

Landing roles in Matteo Garrone’s “Io Capitano” was a life-changing experience for Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall. The young Senegalese actors were cast to play African migrants Seydou and Moussa, respectively. Two young men hoping to live out their dreams in Europe and, eventually, the United States, after crossing the African continent and the Mediterranean Sea. Their director, best known for 2008’s “Gomorrah,” threw them a curveball for their first real professional gigs, though. It turns out no one in the cast ever had a complete screenplay.

“They made this journey without knowing how it’s going to end, because we didn’t give the script to them,” Garrone reveals. “Every day they were discovering a new adventure, and they didn’t know if they were going to succeed or not.”

Shot as chronologically as possible, “Io Capitano” follows Seydou and Moussa as they are forced to pay off countless smugglers, trek across a hot desert, deal with violent Libyan soldiers, fall victim to human traffickers, and, eventually, guide a packed, rickety old boat full of other migrants across the sea. The details would be almost unbelievable if every chapter in the movie wasn’t based on true events and Garrone collaborated with three different screenwriters to make sure the film was as accurate as possible. Garrone refers to his tale, Italy’s Oscar nominee for international film, as “the most dramatic tragedy of our time,” the universal desire to find a better life.

“In the States, you have [this story] with Mexican or with Venezuela [migrants]. But not everyone knows how big the tragedy is [here],” Garrone says. “We know in Europe. We know that people die in the desert. We know that people died in Libya in prison, we know that people died in the sea. So we wanted to give the audience an emotional experience through the eyes of the actor. That was what pushed us to tell this story, to show to the world that this journey is not only made by people that escape from war like we used to think, but also by young people. That it’s involved in globalization, because sometimes we forget that globalization has arrived very strong also in Africa.”

For example, the 55-year-old filmmaker notes that social media has made its way to the phones of young people in Africa. They view what’s occurring in Europe and the United States. They chat and write online. They view images that create dreams and promise something new. What young people such as Seydou and Moussa don’t tend to see is the real-world struggles of anyone living on the other side of those photos and videos.

At the core of “Io Capitano,” however, is Seydou’s journey, which transforms him from one of many faceless migrants into a genuine hero. A hero, Garrone says, “that fights for life in a system of injustice where all the basic human rights are completely destroyed.” And much of the credit for the movie’s emotional impact is thanks to the captivating Sarr for his performance as Seydou.

“Sometimes when you work with actors, they have the opportunity to show maybe in a scene how they good they are,” Garrone admits. “Sometimes you can feel something narcissistic [in that, and] I never had this feeling with Seydou. He was always very simple, and he was always looking inside himself, never to show how good he was. And I think it was a good lesson and also made my job so intense and profound. He helped me a lot with this innocence in a way.”

Shooting sequentially was a challenge. The production began in Senegal and then transitioned to the deserts of Morocco. The end of filming saw everyone in the comfortable confines of Sicily to shoot the boat scenes, which didn’t necessarily assist with the urgency Garrone wanted to keep on set.

“The problem was that they arrive in Italy two weeks before the character. They were like in the swimming pool, drinking, playing, eating very well,” Garrone says. “And then the day after they were going to the boat. But the approach was completely less intense, because they arrived in Italy much before the character. I tried to say, ‘Please don’t stop, we have done all this, in two weeks, keep the concentration please.’ And after a while, I start to finally have their concentration back.”

Despite the obvious political controversy regarding migrants in all corners of the world, Garrone insists “Io Capitano” is “not a thesis movie.” There are no easy answers regarding such a complex issue. Instead, he is attempting to give a point of view of the young people who decide to embark upon such an arduous journey. That positive portrayal could be a call to arms to many politicians stoking the flames of anti-immigrant policies, but Garrone was gifted a distinctly Italian lifesaver when the movie arrived in local theaters.

“A week after the release in Italy, Pope Francis decided to screen the movie in the Vatican. He wanted to support the movie, because he’s always been from the side of the immigrant,” Garrone says. “His parents were migrants; he knows that’s the tragedy of our time. I think this helps us to be on a superior level. We never had any political discussion with the political groups in Italy, because the pope in a way [gave a stamp of approval].”