"Where journalism ends, Fuocoammare begins." The Hollywood Report
This is perhaps one of the best judgments describes the documentary shot by Gianfranco Rosi "Fuocoammare". We are used to seeing the phenomenon of migrants under the aseptic light of news reporting. Every day the bulletin of landings in Lampedusa is updated with the number of victims. These are figures that no longer shock us, we are used to them. It is for this reason that a terrorist attack with a dozen victims in Europe has much more coverage in the media and public opinion than a massacre of hundreds of deaths at sea.
Fuocoammare awakens the dormant conscience of the public
The strength of this documentary lies in its breath. Fuocoammare was not shot in a few days or weeks as a normal in-depth report. The director and his crew lived in Lampedusa for a whole year. During this time the camera entered the houses of the islanders, recounting their lives. Simple lives, for fishermen or children, like that of Samuele Puccillo, who enjoys playing like any other child. Lives like those of Pippo Frangipane, who acts as a DJ on a local radio and who, in addition to transmitting music, gives information on sightings and rescues at sea. Or lives like that of Pietro Bartolo, the island's doctor, the man who has to provide first aid or ascertain the death of migrants.
The hope of fiction and the awakening in reality
Fuocoammare shot very well, with a beautiful photograph. For this reason, the viewer sometimes has the impression of watching a film. In these moments one lulls oneself almost unconsciously into the secret hope that it is a work of fiction. But this hope is shattered when the gazes of migrants are framed. Looks terrified, exhausted. È it is precisely the contrast between the everyday life of the inhabitants of the island and the tragedy of these migrants that moves the most hidden springs in the hearts of the spectators. After seeing Fuocoammare, the migrants' drama will finally belong to all of us.
Watch the trailer below:
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