Italian director Matteo Garrone’s “Io Capitano” is one of the most harrowing films in the international Oscar race, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that Garrone also directed the brutal 2008 classic “Gomorrah.” But his new film presents a torturous trip across the Sahara Desert and then a perilous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea on an overloaded boat, and it’s hard to watch because everything is shown from the perspective of two young refugees from Senegal who think they’re heading toward some kind of promised land in Europe.
It’s because of the two lead actors, Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, that the audience is so shaken by the plight of these boys chasing a dream that may kill them.
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