Io Capitano (2023) review

Senegalese cousins Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall) save up money to leave their native country and find work in Europe - despite warnings from others that it's not the paradise they think it is - and then experience constant hardships on their journey: they have to cross the Sahara by foot, are separated when Moussa is taken by the "Libyan Mafia" (for hiding his loot up his keister) and once they're finally reunited they have to pilot a boat filled with fellow Africans across the Mediterranean Sea.  Garrone based this on actual accounts of individuals who made the perilous trip in order to improve their lives, and while there are strong moments (especially the scene where a sick woman in the desert gets left behind) it favors the visceral instead of the intellectual, evading larger - and controversial - issues involving illegal immigration, corruption and modern slavery: it pretends that "making it" to Sicily is a "happily ever after" for everyone involved.  I feel the Dardennes' Tori and Lokita is a more rational example of what actually happens in this situation, where the goal of financial success (and possibly fame) is not even remotely possible, and there are endless dangers.