As wrenching and relevant a film as any you’re likely to see this year, Italy’s entry, Io Capitano, tells the story of two Senegalese teenagers making the treacherous journey from Dakar to Italy in search of a better life. Filmmaker Matteo Garrone (best known for 2008’s vivid and gritty crime drama Gomorrah) shot along the route taken by so many West African migrants—including through the forbidding Saharan desert—and his film combines an air of vérité authenticity with gorgeous flights of mournful fantasy. The true discovery of Io Capitano, which can be hard to watch, but also lifts you up with its vision of resilience and survival, is its magnetic young star, newcomer Seydou Sarr, making his feature film debut. The ending sequence, aboard a ramshackle boat crossing the Mediterranean, is a heart-stopper.
Io Capitano opens in limited theaters on February 23.
The Crowd-Pleaser: Society of the Snow
Is it weird to call a movie that depicts cannibalism a crowd-pleaser? Spain’s submission, Society of the Snow, tells the true story of the 1970 Uruguayan rugby team, whose flight crashed in the Andes. Several survived for an incredible 72 days before they were rescued—and, yes, they subsisted on the bodies of their fallen teammates, but that is not the focus of this beautifully shot, technically dazzling survival film. This is a movie, earnest and palpably respectful, about the strength of the human spirit and the love these young men had for each other. It is harrowing in places (the plane crash especially), but also engineered to leave you practically cheering by the end.