Of all the offerings this Oscar season, one stands out: “Io Capitano.” A nominee for best international feature film, the film is a visually stunning and often harrowing account of the journey from West Africa to Europe. At a time when Italy’s far right is in government, introducing draconian anti-migrant laws amid a flood of poisonous rhetoric, “Io Capitano” represents an important intervention by its director, Matteo Garrone. Wolof dominates the script, claiming a place for a language that, though present in Italian society, has been nearly absent from Italian cinema. Yet for all its achievements, the film doesn’t tell the whole story. “Io Capitano” owes its title to the final scenes of the film in which the Senegalese protagonist, Seydou, is strong-armed into helming a rusty fishing trawler that takes him and hundreds more from Libya to Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island.

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Persons: ”, Matteo Garrone, Garrone, Walt Whitman’s, — “ Locations: West Africa, Europe, Senegal, Senegalese, Libya, Lampedusa