In a year of good films, Io Capitano [I Captain] stands out as both incredibly moving and well-crafted. It is the story of two teenaged cousins who leave their home in Senegal, hoping for a better life in Europe. Their dreams are big, but their ignorance and naiveté are way bigger. Italy is their intended destination, but first they must get to Tripoli in Northern Africa. They encounter unspeakable horrors on the way, and we, the audience, keep wondering if they will succeed in their ambitions or be crushed. What judgment will the film render on their decision to leave against their mothers’ protestations and the advice of far wiser minds? But this is not where this brilliant script and amazing acting takes us. Conned into piloting a rickety boat filled to over capacity with other refugees, the boy Seydou shouts at the helicopter hoving over their craft off the coast of Sicily “I’m the captain! I saved everyone! No one died!”
No one died. This is the outstanding achievement. Seydou has retained his humanity in the face of unbearable inhumanity. Thinking back we should have seen this coming: Seydou turning back to help a woman dying in the desert, his refusal to leave Tripoli without his cousin Moussa. And he in turn benefits from the kindness of others. An older man, a skilled laborer, temporarily “adopts” him, saving his life; a refugee physician treats Moussa’s wounded leg and helps Seydou to procure black market drugs for his cousin.
Our expectation that the film produce a resolution regarding the boys’ ambitions are, of course, justified. This is a journey film, a road movie, a buddy film, a quest narrative, a literary form as old as Western literature itself. And part of the boys’ dream is realized: they reach Europe. But whether they will find a better life, whether the harrowing journey was worth it, these questions are never answered, and we are left instead with the understanding that how one journeys is as important as the goal: “I saved everyone; no one died!”