No one thinks it’s a good idea for teenage cousins Seydou and Moussa to embark on the treacherous journey from their native Senegal to Europe. Seydou’s mother is so adamantly against it that moments after he proposes the idea, he tries to play it off like he was only joking. When they share their scheme with a local merchant, he angrily tosses them out of his stall. Their long dead ancestors, contacted through a local shaman, are the only ones who don’t think it’s a mistake; presumably, they haven’t seen the news recently.

IO CAPITANO ★★1/2 (2.5/4 stars)
Directed by: Matteo Garrone
Written by: Matteo Garrone
Starring: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawagodo
Running time: 121 mins.

But what does Matteo Garrone—acclaimed director of the bloody 2008 Neapolitan gangster epic Gomorrah and the principal mind behind Io Capitano, a nominee for the International Feature Film Oscar—make of their ambitions? Based on the atrocities he displays—graphically yet with a decided cinematic flair—it’s possible to imagine he shares similar anti-immigration views with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and a majority of Italians. At least at first.........

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