FIRE AT SEA

Rosi’s Berlin Film Festival winner dives straight into one of the big topics of our times, and yet seeks out completely different images. Fuocoammare reveals a gaping chasm between two worlds, which causes the film to clash structurally: on the one side, the almost relaxed coming-of-age story of the young Samuele, who climbs onto the island’s seaside rocks, aims his slingshot at bushes and birds, or lingers around by the harbour. On the other, the refugees’ fight for survival, filmed on their boats. The great political conflict is thereby viewed through the eyes of a child. Through him, we learn to see, and our perspective changes. Rosi, who spent over a year on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, shows what only cinema can make visible: the small everyday moments of beauty in the midst of a political crisis, the simple life in the face of the death of thousands. The political in the apolitical? One can, and should, argue about it. A film which does not assert any certainties, but reinforces uncertainties.