A Ciambra (2017)

Directed by: Jonas Carpignano | 118 minutes | drama | Actors: Pio Amato, Koudous Seihon, Damiano Amato, Francesco Pio Amato, Iolanda Amato, Patrizia Amato, Rocco Amato, Susanna Amato, Paolo Carpignano

As remarkable as it is that Africans arrive in Europe by boat, especially in poor regions like Calabria, it is a fact. A region with strong family ties; certainly that of the Roma, to which Pio, the main character in ‘A Ciambra’, belongs: the drain of the drain of Italy. When his father and older brother are arrested, 14-year-old Pio feels compelled to provide the income for his four-generation family, who live in the gypsy community of Ciambra, and live on burglaries and car theft. Northern Italians come by train to the heel of the boot to buy a stolen car from the kid for 300 euros. Not much later, Pio sells a TV to Ghanaians for a higher amount. Grandma looks angry and stays up at night, but takes the money with love.

As portrayed by the Italian-American Jonas Carpignano (‘Mediterranea’), this is far from cynical. Pio builds a bond of trust with Burkinabe immigrant Ayiva (Koudous Seihon). It produces beautiful scenes. Pio nervously boarding an intercity train – as if to flee his life, and moments later walks out with a passenger’s suitcase to sell it to Ayiva. You see Pio doubting his fate for a long time, especially conscience plays nicely in the facial expressions of the excellent Pio Amato, who is somewhere between innocence and calculation. This is especially useful in scenes like the lonely kid on the street at night, when a wild horse suddenly walks past.

Pio follows the beast, which disappears in a night fire. Amato, whose entire extended family plays a part in ‘A Ciambra’, giving the whole thing documentary allure, shows a moving combination of passivity, wonder and horror. The fact that Pio finds friendship in the African community is a convincing choice of the filmmaker, as is the fact that he is also withdrawn into his own family. It could have been a little rougher, but that would have detracted from the message that people always have the choice to preserve the good. Not just Pio, Ayiva too. Not without reason, ‘A Ciambra’ was the Italian entry for Best Foreign Film for the 90th Oscar ceremony.