Fuego en el mar

Gianfranco Rosi made a very good documentary about the problem of immigration and the situation in the isle of Lampedusa, comparing the daily life of the italian citizens with the troubles of the women, men and children who need to cross the Adriatic sea to survive. He didn't use actors but real people in their real lives, for this reason the result is realistic, powerful and emotional. It shows many situations that we don't want to see and to know, using a good point of view and without being demagogic. The movie deserves all the awards that it won.

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.

FIRE AT SEA won the 'Golden Bear' best picture award at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Part documentary, part docudrama, it was filmed on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies roughly midway between Libya and Sicily and has become the first port of call for more than 100,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Over 15,000 have drowned, dying to be set free from terror and tyranny and poverty.

We see the Italian navy rescuing migrants from their sinking overcrowded boats and dinghies; many of them are in a desperate condition after days at sea. We get glimpses of the 'internment camp'where they wait to be processed and sent on to their uncertain future in a Europe which is increasingly unwelcoming.

Alternating with the refugee crisis, the film's main focus is Samuele, a 12-year-old Lampedusan who lives with his fisherman father and grandmother. The family play themselves in the style of a Pasolini movie (minus the sex and the blasphemy). We watch Samuele slurping spaghetti, struggling with homework, playing with a slingshot. They seem to have a very limited awareness of the migrant situation, although that is perhaps only the director's way of pointing up the contrast between the ordinariness of their lives and the appalling tragedy taking place in the waters around their island.

This heart-wrenching film offers no solution to the crisis. How could it? There clearly isn't one.

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.

This documentary film is not in detail like any normal documentary does, to highlight the rights and wrongs. Actually, it speaks less and reveals more through its pictures. So anybody can make their own narration watching this film. The filmmakers left that part empty for you the viewers to decide. But my advice for you if you want to try this, that don't expect it to be about the 'immigration' alone. This film was multi-layered. There are many angles of focus about different topics, but kind of all are connected which is the Mediterranean Sea.

So the common thing in the film is the Sea that divides the two continents, Europe and Africa. This film sets around that region about the people who depended on it for the living, growing up and looking for the fresh life start. But the majority of those who saw it recognise only the refugees who cross the sea. That's wrong to label this film is about the refugees. Around 20-25 per cent of the film concentrated on that issue. Only about their struggle on their journey to the other side, but it reveals nothing on its root cause. If you ask me, I would say only one religion making all this mess in the middle-east, otherwise you won't see the western army in that region.

Some of the clips, the real ones are really disturbing. I won't blame those people who took such risk to get the other side of the sea. Believe me, I'm not a nationalist, so I won't believe in borders and regions that divided over language and ethnicity base. But I do mind the religious. If that was eradicated from the earth's surface, particularly one that's causing all the trouble immediately, we can co-exist peacefully. That's the major issue here, but we're after temporary solution. The film does not say all this, but you will get the clear picture.

"The ships fired rockets and at sea. It was like there was fire at sea."

For me this was an average film. I have seen the much better documentaries than this on various issues of the world. The filmmakers don't want to take sides, so they only revealed the truth by just following and making videos of life in and around the Mediterranean Sea. Like I meantioned earlier, some of the angles do not make any sense or difficult to understand its purpose. I don't know the others, but I have got plenty of questions about the film to ask the filmmakers. If you are like me, welcome aboard.

It was the Italian entry for the 2017 Oscars and it did not make, but found a slot in the list of Best Documentary Feature. This is the first out of five from that category I have seen, so I don't know whether it wins the award or not, but as per the prediction made by film fanatics and critics, this is the frontrunner.

Whatever the result would be, I'm not recommending it particularly the common people. Because the film fails to narrate the story which is very essential from the average peoples' perspective to get the message clear and loud. All one can get with this is only the outline on the very important issue at the moment. Remember how the David Attenborough's narration made to reach all the corners of the earth. Confusing over the purpose of the documentary, possibly misleading. Its like watching a news channel on the mute mode. Otherwise, this should have been one of the best of its kind.

5/10