Longing for a brighter future, two Senegalese teenagers embark on a journey from West Africa to Italy. However, between their dreams and reality lies a labyrinth of checkpoints, the Sahara Desert, and the vast waters of the Mediterranean.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.0/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.90/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 79
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Matteo Garrone
Production
Archimede, RAI Cinema, Tarantula, Pathé, Logical Content Ventures
A harrowing migration odyssey with strong emotional force, striking desert-and-sea imagery, and a humane focus on youth, endurance, and survival. It can feel more allegorical than investigative, but its immediacy and performances make it memorable.
Best for
viewers drawn to urgent social dramas
fans of survival journeys and road movies
audiences interested in migration stories
people who appreciate lyrical realism with occasional magical touches
Skip if
you want a strictly procedural or journalistic treatment
you prefer lighter, more hopeful drama
you are sensitive to prolonged suffering and exploitation on screen
you dislike films that lean toward allegory and symbolism
Overview
Io Capitano turns a contemporary migration route into a punishing coming-of-age odyssey. Two Senegalese teenagers set out with a dream of Europe, and the film steadily strips away innocence as the journey becomes a test of hunger, fear, coercion, and endurance. The scale is epic, but the emotional center stays intimate and grounded in the boys’ bond and stubborn hope.
Worth noting
Matteo Garrone stages the trip with vivid physical detail: the desert, detention, and the sea all feel like separate worlds of danger. At times the film edges toward fable, especially in its more surreal flourishes, which some viewers may find distancing. Still, the performances and the cumulative force of the journey give it real power.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the film’s refusal to turn suffering into mere spectacle. It is painful, but not empty; bleak, but not hopeless. If you can accept its blend of realism and mythic storytelling, it’s one of the more affecting migration dramas of recent years.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Amelia Ritagli (4.5★) · 1606 likes
Remember the torture scenes? Italy funds those horrors.The film doesn't underline enough the responsability of my country in all this trail of man-made horrors beyond my comprehension; it seems that all the bad stuff happens in Africa but it's not like that at all - so I'd like to brief it up for the non italians:
In Italy in 2017 the left wing government (yes) made an agreement with the Libia's Coastguard - the bad guys in the prison… more
Alessandro Ritrovato (4★) · 822 likes
Regalate un biglietto del cinema a qualche ministro
júlia (4.5★) · 806 likes
so you're telling me this was seydou sarr's first acting role??? i refuse to believe it
Robert (he/him) (2★) · 505 likes
Spineless aestheticization of migration. Italy and the EU go completely untouched. There are plenty of strong (non)fictional films out there tackling the same perspective, but that feel way more authentic, haunting and insightful. The complete opposite of Holland’s excellent Green Border, Garrone’s shallow take offers nothing new, and teaches us absolutely zero about the urge to migrate and the mechanisms behind human trafficking. Moments of magic realism miss the point. The last shot for sure feels powerful, especially due to… more Spineless aestheticization of migration. Italy and the EU go completely untouched. There are plenty of strong (non)fictional films out there tackling the same perspective, but that feel way more authentic, haunting and insightful. The complete opposite of Holland’s excellent Green Border, Garrone’s shallow take offers nothing new, and teaches us absolutely zero about the urge to migrate and the mechanisms behind human trafficking. Moments of magic realism miss the point. The last shot for sure feels powerful, especially due to… more
Not a migration film, but it shares moral pressure, social realism, and the feeling of lives constrained by systems.
Topics
migration drama, survival journey, coming-of-age, social realism, desert odyssey, Mediterranean crossing, human trafficking, hope vs despair, political drama, lyrical realism