Io Capitano

At the same time, the house is also a poor shack in the middle of a boring desert. Ubiquitous sand, not just on the horizon, but also in closets. The stench from the huge landfill and the abandoned goats that live in it. And the endless poverty that spreads across the continent and forces you to kill hard from an early age.

But Seydou and Moussa keep a secret: their wages from years of work are hidden in the arms of sand near their house. Thanks to their savings, the children plan to travel across the desert and sea to cross the nearest European border and find themselves in the fabulous land that beckons all Africans so much.

It's not hate, but love for a humble home that drives boys. A dangerous enterprise is not a blind pursuit of dreams of a better world, but a balanced solution to poverty problems. From Europe, you can send home money that your family did not even dream of. However, we should ask not so much from the compliant spirits of our ancestors as from mothers whose hearts can't stand a breakup.

Therefore, the main characters of the picture “Io Capitano” go on an odyssey across the waves of sand without asking and driven by the hope that calling their mother from somewhere in Italy will bring forgiveness for the terrible offense. As soon as they leave their father's house, they find themselves in a fairy-tale world full of robbers, cannibals and monsters of all stripes. And like the main character of “Dogman”, they are unwitting witnesses to the heyday of cruelty and violence.

The road through the cold-blooded Sahara brings friends into the clutches of smugglers and slave traders who promise to help them cross unfriendly territory, but only deceive naive teenagers. Together with them, decrepit old people who have nothing to lose, mothers with babies, and someone's desperate fathers are trying to overcome the nightmarish path. A crowd of thousands is drawn north to the sea, from where, if you squint your eyes sharp, you can see the shores of paradise.

As beautiful as Matteo Garrone interprets the Sahara — endless and untouched by man's foot — so monstrous is Africa under human rule. In their odyssey, the main characters face almost mythical kings and demons, wander into the gardens of paradise and the depths of Tartarus. But in reality, they turn out to be greedy sheikhs in luxurious mansions and swindlers hiding in the shadows.

The journey through the desert is not for children, and the journey of 16-year-old boys quickly loses its fascinating appeal. The Libyan coast will accept only the strong in spirit, and the rest will fall prey to the Sahara or criminals. With each step, the main characters grow up, although time hardly exists in the endless series of dunes.

Desperate to find happiness at home and driven by love for their families, Seydou and Moussa fall into a brutal myth that hides a harsh reality. Terrible poverty pushes barefoot ragged people to run across the hot sand, without a livelihood or a sensible plan.

Migrants are forced to overcome not only physical barriers, but also moral ones. As they grow up, the main characters stop worrying about their fallen and straggling comrades, becoming indifferent with every step. Seydou and Moussa, driven by the winds of Aeolus, try to resist this, although everything around them convinces them that human dignity is no more valuable than sand in the desert.

Young people are a symbol of an entire generation for whom a blissful future, advertised by imaginary cosmopolitanism, is actually hidden behind walls out of fear, prejudice and political interests. Their story is a cry for help, a call to realize that real or social boundaries created by man are only a source of endless pain and suffering.