“I wanted the truth in Io Capitano. I did not seek didactic realism,” says Matteo Garrone, “My approach was the same as in Gomorra: to make the viewer relive this journey from Senegal to Europe in subjective, through the eyes of two boys who do not start from absolute poverty, but have the economic possibilities to make the crossing. In Africa, seventy per cent of the population are young people who have come into contact with globalization, who have social networks and who do not understand, for example, why on earth one of their French peers can come on vacation to Senegal. At the same time, they cannot go to France, but to go discovering the world, dreaming of personal fulfilment, they have to risk their lives.”
The two lead actors, Moustapha Fall and Seydou Sarr commented on their participation as follows, “For Io Capitano, I had to know the suffering of the migrants who face this journey: this pain destroyed me,” recounts Fall, “Witnessing this sacrifice profoundly changed me. “I really experienced the events seen in the film,” adds Sarr, “I know about illegal immigration. Shooting this film made me grow a lot inwardly.”
