Fire at Sea (2016)

Yesterday all my friends got together and we celebrated my birthday, which is actually on Tuesday but who wants to go out during the week?  Anyway, we went to yoga at a winery, then to a rum bar, then another winery, then a bourbon bar, and another wine bar.  So I didn't post anything yesterday.    This is another Oscar nominee from the Best Documentary category.  It did not win and I can see why.

There's a tiny island off the coast of Italy called Lampedusa that is a major hub for refugees fleeing across the Mediterranean.  The documentary juxtaposes the conditions of these refugees with the longtime inhabitants of the island, mostly poor fishing families.

Unfortunately, it manages to do so in the most boring way possible.  After the tight focus of 13th, this felt like a torturous slog.  There's almost no context provided and the documentarians don't seem to have any sort of point or agenda they are highlighting.  They focus on one island boy in particular, following him around as he plays with friends, gets his eyes checked, and messily eats spaghetti.  Seriously, this kid's table manners are the worst.  Then they cut to boat after boat of refugees arriving, being checked by doctors, and transferred to a temporary camp.  There's no overlap of the boy and the refugees.  If it wasn't explicitly stated that they were on the same island, you'd never know from just watching the film.

I can't recommend this at all.  It's incredibly boring and does nothing to promote awareness or any kind of message.  Avoid.