Fire at sea by Gianfranco Rosi
- Tommaso Carlo Mascolo
- 6 mar 2016
- Tempo di lettura: 3 min
Samuele is a child who lives in Lampedusa and likes to play with his slingshot, especially in the hinterland. He has eyesight problems and breathing difficulties, and when he goes fishing with his father, he always gets seasick. Gianfranco Rosi guides us into his life, with his grandmother who prepares calamari and tomato sauce, and tells Samuele about her memories of the war and the fire at sea, caused by the bombs.
However, outside the small reality of Samuele’s family, another bigger reality exists: that of the sea. In particular, Fire at Sea focuses on what the sea brings to Lampedusa, which is not war or bombs: it’s survivals. The documentary introduces us to one of the doctors that, in addition to taking care of Lampedusa’s inhabitants (including Samuele), have also the task to take account of the immigrants’ deaths.
Doctor Bartòlo talking about immigrants' deaths © 2016 21Uno Film Above: a young refugee © 2016 21Uno Film
Another reality pictured in Fire at Sea is that of the Coast Guards’ rescue missions, through which we learn that not every life can be saved. Everyday, these Guards, just common men in white coats, have to deal with lifeless bodies, even moving them physically. And Rosi does not show how their feelings: we can only use our imagination.
Many immigrants arrive safe on the island. They are examined: some of them have scabies, most of them are undernourished and all of them have to wait, but nobody can say for what. They do not belong to a land anymore: the only place suitable to host them is an island far from both Italy and Africa, completely lost in the sea.
Another young refugee © 2016 21Uno Film
Indeed, Lampedusa is the real subject of this movie. Gianfranco Rosi, who has spent an entire year on the island to understand and film its life, does not produce a denouncing documentary about immigration: he does not express moral judgments, but he gives us his sensitive and tactful vision of the island’s reality.
He was able to do this, first of all, by giving space to the natural elements. Among them there is, of course, the sea, but there are also skies, woods, prickly pears, reefs, fishes, birds. Nature has many sounds: the sound of the waves, or the sound of the wind. But there is also an overwhelming silence, that seems to be the sound of a timeless place, where a missing humanity comes and goes like the waves.
Lampedusa's landscape© 2016 21Uno Film
Gianfranco Rosi, after his latest movie Sacro GRA, proves to have all the skills to talk about a problematic reality using his personal language, and, with this movie, he gives us the possibility to reflect about immigration in a different way. This is a precious lesson for Europe in this historic moment, and the fact that Fire at Sea was awarded with the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin Internation Film Festival is surely an important sign that people are becoming more and more aware of the different realities that coexist in such a small, strategically placed island as Lampedusa.
Director: Gianfranco Rosi
Writer: Gianfranco Rosi, Carla Cattani (idea)
Cast: Samuele Caruana, Pietro Bartòlo, Giuseppe Fragapane, Samuele Pucillo, Francesco Paterna, Mario Costa, Maria Signorello, Francesco Mannino, Mattias Cucina
Year: 2016
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