Mediterranea

Ayiva and Abas set out from Burkina Faso. They cross the desert, are robbed in Libya, cross the Mediterranean in a boat and arrive in Calabria in the south of Italy. They start work in the orange groves. Ayiva tries to fit in; Abas says what the conditions are from the first day. The tension in the town rises. Jonas Carpignano writes and directs in his first feature. The ground under it is real. In 2010 there was a major confrontation between migrant farm workers and local people in the Calabrian town of Rosarno; the events were discussed in Italy for a long time and the film goes straight to those days. Most of the cast are not professionals. Koudous Seihon, who plays Ayiva, actually made the same journey and the character rests largely on his experience. The narrative does not build a story of deliverance. Nothing changes after arrival: the wages are not paid, there is no housing, and the legal position is uncertain; the film gives the arrival not as an end but as another stage. The camera is handheld and very close to the characters; the narrative keeps a documentary texture. It screened in Critics' Week at the 2015 Cannes film festival. Carpignano made his next two films in the same town. Who it is for: viewers who want migration told outside the usual shape and who follow Italian independent cinema. Who it is not for: the narrative is loose, there is no resolution, and the pace is deliberately flat.