'Me Captain' is the movie to follow at the Golden Globe Awards

Recently, the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced, the prestigious awards for cinema and TV, second only to the Oscars in Hollywood's hierarchy. These awards are highly influential in shaping the success of films and actors. The eighty-first edition of the event is scheduled for January 7th, as usual in Beverly Hills, and will be the first ceremony organized by the non-profit Golden Globe Foundation. Until last year, the awards were presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which had faced a series of scandals compromising its reputation. Among the nominees for Best Foreign Film is Me Captain directed by Matteo Garrone – the only Italian presence in over 20 categories. In his career, the director has won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 2008 with Gomorrah and in 2012 with Reality. His latest film is set almost entirely in Africa and follows the story of Seydou and his cousin Moustapha, two Senegalese boys who leave Dakar to try to reach Italy. «I told the story of the migration of young people from Africa to Europe. It's an epic journey where life is at risk to seek a better future, to fulfill a dream,» said Garrone. The film also incorporates typical elements of road movies and coming-of-age novels.

The Concept Behind 'Me Captain'

Me Captain originates from a lengthy documentation process, lasting over two years, during which testimonies of those who personally experienced the journey from Africa to Europe were collected. The director described it as a «contemporary odyssey.» «We decided to put the camera from their point of view, in a kind of counterpoint to the images we are used to seeing from our Western perspective, in an attempt to give a voice – finally – to those who usually don't have it,» explained Garrone. To narrate the crossing "from within," «full of twists and dangers,» according to Garrone, it was necessary to "immerse oneself in the world of all the boys and girls who have experienced this horror." The story is inspired by real events involving four individuals who undertook the journey at different historical moments. «Behind every frame of the film is a true story,» said the director, who directed the film in Wolof, the native language of 40% of Senegalese people, even though he doesn't speak it. «I heard a language incomprehensible to me, but it seemed to me that I understood when the actors were in and out of character.» The film's lead, Seydou Sarr, received the award for Best Emerging Actor, the Marcello Mastroianni Award, at the Venice Film Festival. «To find the protagonists of Me Captain, we conducted extensive casting work, both in Europe and Africa,» explained Garrone. «In the end, we realized that the best and most effective choice was to take two very young Senegalese actors, who had never left their country but – like most of their peers – were fascinated by the West and had the desire to explore the world.» Additionally, the actors were not given the script; they acted without knowing the exact storyline, discovering it gradually during filming. This choice reaffirms the director's approach, making him a recognizable author: «I do my best to tell stories that are alive. I agree with what Fellini said, there are no beautiful or ugly films, there are only alive or dead films. I try to make living films.»

The Journey of 'Me Captain' Beyond Theatres

«I was full of doubts, fearing rhetoric or that my perspective might be inadequate to tell this story, that it might seem an attempt to speculate on the suffering of others, then at a certain point, I felt that the film was mature,» reported Garrone to Internazionale. Me Captain has garnered considerable critical and audience success, surpassing 3 million euros at the box office and being distributed in many countries. Variety wrote that it is «hard not to be moved by the film's great emotional impact,» and it won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. «I tried to create a direction that was extremely simple, bare, avoiding any form of stylistic self-indulgence or virtuosity for its own sake. The challenge was to make our work invisible, as if the story told itself,» declared Garrone. The 55-year-old Roman director is also the Italian candidate for the Oscars – the third time he has been chosen to represent Italy at the Academy Awards. Dozens of countries submit their cinematic productions released during the year, aiming to compete for the award in the "Best Foreign Film" category. By the end of December, the association that awards the Oscars will select an initial list of 15 titles from all received submissions, eventually narrowing it down to the final five for nomination. Me Captain was proposed by Italy because it embodies «with great power and cinematographic mastery the universal desire for freedom and happiness.» However, the race for the Oscar begins in earnest with the Golden Globes, which usually provide plausible indications of who may aspire to the Academy Award. For example, Sorrentino, like Garrone, highly appreciated abroad, won the Oscar in 2014 with The Great Beauty (Italy's last win in the "Best Foreign Film" category), which had previously been honored at the Golden Globes. The same happened with Chloé Zhao's Nomadland in 2021, Peter Farrelly's Green Book in 2019, and the year before with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh.