![\"\"](\"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/FIREATSEA-IMAGE-MV5BYWZlOWY4ZDktNTkyMC00NzlhLWI3NzctOGE3MjM1MWE0MTJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjk3NDAxMQ@@._V1_SY1000_CR0013331000_AL_.jpg\")
<\/a>The film making in this movie is exceptional because right from the beginning you can see how without saying a word so much is being told about the peaceful landscape of the simple life of a little Italian boy. He is playing peacefully by the seashore. \u00a0It feels more like a fictional movie or one would hope it is all fictional. \u00a0But it is real. \u00a0This is a documentary. \u00a0The boy is not to be dislike or disdained for his privilege, nor does he or anyone in his family seem inherently evil or cold hearted. \u00a0They live a beautiful simple life, while out on the water hundreds of refugees from Africa are rescued by volunteers and barely make it to shore with breath still in them. \u00a0The doctor is the one who makes clear the true sentiment of the film. He is anguished. \u00a0How can one man make a difference or change such an enormous atrocity? \u00a0It is too much for him to bear. Yet how can any one man turn his back? \u00a0We all do everyday in some form or fashion. The doctor lives a good life but even his power to heal cannot stop the flood of dying refugees flooding the banks of the\u00a0most southern Italian island of Lampedusa. The African refugees cry and pray fervently for their very lives, many are killed by soaking in water mixed with gasoline in the bilge. \u00a0The doctor describes the scene showing a picture of the boats. \u00a0These payed for first class, second class, the ones on the bottom are the first to go from suffocation. \u00a0It strikes me being new to the film festival many of the films I have seen are in the category of “hard to watch”. \u00a0There are very graphic scenes of people dying or nearly dying and yet the point is made of being so close and yet so distanced from any real form of solution. \u00a0There is nothing else for the doctor to do except continue to battle the wound infection and dehydration. \u00a0Why are we so disconnected from institutional change? \u00a0The film begs the question what now? These people are still dying just because the festival is over hasn’t stopped the massacre. \u00a0It’s like James Baldwin so aptly points to in his film of the appalling moral apathy that exists in every country particularly towards Africans. \u00a0How long must the slaughter continue? \u00a0The island is beautiful. \u00a0A fisherman or a doctor or any legal resident of this city is beautifully fortunate to live there. \u00a0The African people are fighting for their right to live. Anywhere. \u00a0They just happen to be arriving in the\u00a0most southern Italian island of Lampedusa. \u00a0Every person in this world has their gifts and talents in life. \u00a0This film is not wasted on anyone. \u00a0The excellent work of the producers, editors and cinematographers are just one voice for the weak and desperate. \u00a0The doctor is another. \u00a0How we will solve all of these problems is all of our business. \u00a0What affects one must affect all or we find ourselves selfishly, unwittingly not only witness to but party to the suffering and death of many.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reviewed by Alicia Huhn at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2017. The film making in this movie is exceptional because right from the beginning you can see how without saying a word so much is being told about the peaceful landscape of the simple life of a little Italian boy. He is playing peacefully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135207,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2017"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/135207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}