The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea)  

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) | Movie review  
6 June 2016
Mersa Auda
Avatar
Mersa Auda
6 June 2016

Movie and show review

Mersa Auda

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea)

★★★★★

Release date

10th May 2016

Links

FacebookWebsite

The inflow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and arriving in precarious, overcrowded boats on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa has been constant over the past few years. As the number of casualties soar and no action is taken to tackle the crisis, news reports cannot convey the severity of the situation or the psychological impact for those involved. Director Gianfranco Rosi brings awareness to the issue with a film-documentary that does not explicitly denounce political apathy, but rather seeks to transmit emotions and does so with great effect.

Fuocoammare begins by depicting the quiet life of the islanders. There are boys playing in the silent woods, fishermen patiently waiting, women sewing. The tragedy is not placed at the centre of the movie, and that makes it all the more powerful. The film is a collection of seemingly unrelated clips, a series of random snippets of daily life that gradually, thanks to the commendable editing, register by osmosis as a rich, multilayered portrait of the island’s complex social reality. There is no commentary or explanation of the context, but rather a zooming in on the details, which then form a powerful picture as they build up and grip the viewer.

The focal point leans towards the locals, and more specifically on young schoolboy Samuele. The camera plunges into the personal spaces of the islanders, from an old lady listening to Sicilian love songs on the radio to the radio show host himself, to the fishermen, the local doctor, and the children. Samuele’s delightful spontaneity brings a light-heartedness to the otherwise sombre atmosphere. However, beneath his confident attitude there are signs of unease, as if a sense of foreboding has seeped into every corner of Lampedusa.

The juxtaposition of the immigrants’ experiences with the slow-motion life of the islanders heightens the impact of the tragedy. There are long shots of stillness that draw one into the melancholic world of the locals. By contrast, the reality of the newly arrived migrants is like a fast flowing river where thousands of strained faces and cries for help haunt those who witness them. The doctor, who has attended to migrants in the most deplorable conditions, cannot hide his emotion as he relates what he has seen.  

Silence prevails, setting the mood, and words are spoken to reveal emotions more than they are used to expose facts. Powerful and spellbinding, Fuocoammare is a quiet observation awakening a surge of sympathy that no journalistic account could provoke in the same visceral way.  

★★★★★

Mersa Auda

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) is released nationwide on 10th June 2016.  

Watch the trailer for Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

The Dissident

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Moxie

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Notturno

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

The Winter Lake

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Justine

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

Lucky

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Crazy About Her

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Bigfoot Family

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Mersa Auda

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea)

★★★★★

Release date

10th May 2016

Links

FacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • “At school, I always asked myself what my teachers were really like as human beings”: Director Maria Speth on Mr Bachmann and His Class
    Berlinale
  • Voice of Silence
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Delectible drinks that would make the perfect Mother’s Day gift
    Food & Drinks
  • The Dissident
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • “I am not the kind of actor who is really interested in mimicry”: Tom Schilling on Fabian – Going to the Dogs
    Berlinale
  • The Dissident
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Guzen to sozo)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Moxie
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Souad
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • We (Nous)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

El Abrazo de la Serpiente (The Embrace of the Serpent) | Movie review
Road to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2016: Massimo Bottura – Osteria Francescana