Tag Archives: Fire at Sea

Just Another Day on Lampedusa

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At first I was very confused by the addition of this scene into the movie.  What does this fisherman/diver have to do with the refugees and migrants of the island of Lampedusa, but upon looking deeper into this scene and others like it you can see that this movie is not only about the migrants but the island as a whole.  The movie does not include any interviews with the people of Lampedusa but through this scene and those like it you can see the simple life that these people live. You can also see how the people just seem to go throughout their days as they normally would with no real acknowledgement of the migrants and hundreds of people dying right off their coast.  The fisherman and other people from Lampedusa talk only about their problems, bad weather not allowing them to go fishing and not being able to breathe due to anxiety. From first look this seems very selfish and you can see how entitled these people are but from further examination, ignoring these things might be the best thing for these Lampedusans as they are surrounded by death and can not do much themselves to change that fact or help the situation.  Instead of letting this situation overwhelm their lives, they just choose to go about their days whether that is productive in dealing with the migrant crisis is up to interpretation however I think it is a way for them to deal with this trauma.

 

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I chose this still image form Fire at Sea for multiple reasons. First, from a cinematic standpoint the shot of the father talking to his son seeing his reflection creates duality in the scene. This is a common motif in the film, the doctor deals with both the lives of the refugees and the locals that live on the island. This reflection in the mirror represents that common theme. The scene also helps convey the theme of movement. For the refugees that movement is coming to Europe for a better life, for the father it is the boat, traveling around and not stopping anywhere. All the pictures that are on the boat also help with this theme because it is of people that the father met along his trip. He said he met some people from Korea specifically. The doctor’s life can be tied back into this by the movement of him going between both realities of refugees and the locals. The idea of movement and not having a home is showed via these three things. While later in the film the soccer game brings that identity back, the films focus on refugees provides evidence that it is a major theme.

Duty

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The journey of these people was made under brutally inhospitable conditions, and many were injured or died on the boat in an effort to start a new life. The journey, as taxing as it is, hold more of a promise and a brighter light for their futures that they are willing to endure it. This doctor devoted his time to not only helping these people, but also to influence others to do the same. This documentary accurately depicts his emotion and devotion in his mission and to these people with its up close shots and heartfelt testimony without seeming like his responses are tailored to fit an agenda. His vivid descriptions with the pictures on his computer monitor makes it feel like the viewer is actually in his office being motivated to help these people by the hard facts that the doctor is educating the viewer about.

Cinema Verité

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Some say that children are the most honest of us all. They don’t always know the difference between what is honest and what is brutally honest. The TV show “Kids Say The Darndest Things” was very positive for this exact reason but the reward with laughter or attention drives kids to perform outside of how they would typically act. The scene in this post shows that kids will perform instead of being honest because they want the attention. When the child that the film follows for a majority of the film starts “shooting” the ships with his arm cannon the other kid does not appear to have played that “game” before. He waits and watches our main actor to see what he is doing then copies his actions. This is the first hint in the scene that shows that these kids are acting even if it’s just in their own minds. Then if you continue to watch you will see that the kid grows tired of shooting the ships when he tells his friend “Enough. You killed ’em all.”. The kid that we’ve seen since the beginning of the show is willing to keep this performance going but his friend is not. The director chooses to show this interaction even though it may not be a common occurrence causing the film to lose some of it’s fly  on the wall approach.

Song and Performance Among Refugees

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The above screenshot from Fire at Sea is taken from the scene of the film in which a Nigerian man and other refugees being processed are singing a song that tells the story of their journey.

Because the medium of the retelling is in the form of a song, it can be related to the broader theme of performance discusses previously in classes. Sung by refugees to the camera and the film’s audience, this song is a direct performance targeted at the viewer. It is more than a speech and is displayed in such a way as to stir emotions. Seeing that this is the goal of the film as a whole (stirring emotions and generating awareness for the conditions of refugees on the island), there should be no surprise as to why the film’s creators chose to include this scene in the final cut. It serves as a perfect example of performance within film, especially for a documentary.

Analyzing the shot in particular, the Nigerian man telling the group’s story is much closer to the camera compared to the rest of the singers. Taking approximately one quarter of the screen, he is the center of focus all while being at the side of the shot to simultaneously give the audience a feel of the rest of the room, along with the emotions and passion of the other refugees aboard.

Taking the Risk

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The film Fire at Sea is a very informative and moving documentary. Although there are a handful of aspects of the movie that truly educated me on the European migrant crisis, there is one aspect that stood out the most to me. That part would have to be when we witness many migrants on a ship coming from North Africa towards Southern Europe in the hopes of a better life. During this scene, the film producers did a nice job of filming the man singing while also allowing us to see parts of the dark and crowded living conditions many were faced with. By integrating this scene into the movie the audience was able to hear the song sung by an immigrant which gave us a little synopsis of the struggles he along with many have faced on this journey. He talks about his life back to Nigeria and why many want to leave and head to Europe. He discussed how hard they have prayed for a better life and all the awful living conditions they have gone through to get to where they are now. This scene is really an integral part of the documentary as it adds in a sense of emotion and gives the audience a further look at the struggles many have faced.

Locals and Migrants

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The film, Fire at Sea, encapsulates life for migrants and locals on the small island of Lampedusa. Throughout the documentary this song, “Fire at Sea”, is played at the beginning of the film on the radio and again is shown in the radio station at the very end. We learned in class later that this song has been known around the island for many years and is a reminder to locals of war and gunfire seen in the sea from land, looking as if there was fire at sea. I believe the title of the documentary is referencing this war and also how the migrants are fighting for their lives to make it to shore for a new life. This scene reiterates the meaning of the song and the title of the movie, using thunder as sound in the background made the story feel as though it were coming to life for the little boy. The woman explains how the ships fired rockets and it was as if there was fire at sea, the sea “turned red”. After she is finished talking, the scene cuts to the ocean and shows ships. At the end, the little boy is shown pretending to shoot into the ocean. I find this scene significant to the title of the film because it again connects the locals on land to the migrants fighting for a new life somewhere in the ocean.

This Boy’s Life

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This documentary uses the life of a young boy on the island to compare to the dangerous lives of the refugees seeking asylum. Using footage from the boy at the doctor’s office versus seeing the doctor treat men off the boat let’s the viewers realize just how different these people have it than this privileged, untouched child. The little boy experiences shortness of breath from his anxiety while the people under the decks on ships cannot breathe due to the burning fumes that are present in the boat. Putting these experiences side-by-side reveals how much status, race, and socioeconomic status have a role in shaping the lives lived by people. The doctor is used as a vessel connecting these worlds so it is appropriate that the director include a scene with the boy at the doctor’s office.

The Power of Music

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The inclusion of the song, sung by the refugee humanizes the refugees. The song clarifies the reasons that the refugees had to leave their home countries. This song brings clarity to the fact that most refugees feel like there is no other option but then to leave their home countries, in the song it refers to them getting bombed. In the cases of most refugees even though they risk dying in the journey to this new land, they are also risking dying in their home country because of the political situations that their countries are going through. Typically when there are large amounts of refugees coming to a country such as the Syrian refugees in Germany, there are people that welcome the refugees with open arms. An example of this is in the videos that went viral of Germans standing in the airports and such as refugees arrived, they welcomed them into Germany. However, there are often people that are not welcoming of the refugees arriving into a new country. I believe that often this is because people assume that seeking asylum is a choice that is easy and that it is as simple as wanting a better life, and they forget about the fact that many of these people are persecuted. Songs like this one show the reality that many refugees face in their countries of origin and it explains the reason that they must seek asylum elsewhere.

Staying is Dying, but Leaving is Dying

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In this clip, the viewer may be shocked at the cheerfulness and the cheerful tone that the refugees have when recounting their trip and the difficulties they faced, such as 200 people dying in the Sahara and having to drink their own urine to survive, on their way to Lampedusa. However, the cheerfulness and optimistic tone displayed in this scene is because the Nigerian refugees have accepted the reality that they may very likely die on their way to Lampeduas. In her book We Refugees, Hannah Arendt discusses how the Jewish refugees’ cheerfulness and optimism stemmed from an acceptance of death. This is similar the Nigerian refugees seen in this clip. The Nigerian refugee speaking in this clip states that “it is risky in life not to take a risk, because life itself is a risk.” The refugees use the fact that life is a risk as validation for accepting the 200 deaths of their companions in the desert, and for their own possible deaths on their trip to Lampedusa. Traveling to Lampedusa from Nigeria through Libya and the Sahara was risky and most likely many would die, but at the same time, it was a greater risk to stay in Nigeria and had a more likely chance of dying. Essentially, death was a real possibility for the refugees not matter what risk they chose, so they accepted the possibility of death and decided to head to Lampedusa.