A hard-scrabble adventure story, Matteo Garrone’s (Gomorrah, Tale of Tales) tale of two gangly Senegalese boys trying to make it to Italy by land and sea is bleak and bruising one minute, transcendent and magical the next. Despite desertscapes straight out of a David Lean epic, it never sugarcoats the migrant experience. Far from it – Seydou and Moussa, played with huge charm and increasing trepidation by Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, suffer deeply for their dreams of a better life. It’s a sensitive, stirring and hugely relevant film that’s well worth searching out on the big screen.
