Terraferma

From Italy we have Terraferma, an excellent examination of the human side of immigration. The aging patriarch of a dwindling family of fisherman rescues some North African boat people drowning in the waters he has fished all his life. This is tantamount to treason under the immigration crackdown. His family hides a pregnant woman and her young son rather than let the authorities know that he saved them. The authorities confiscate his boat because they suspect he did indeed save some of them. The Island’s tourist trade is suffering because bodies are turning up on the beaches and his children want to flee the island for a better life on the mainland. How he, and his family, deal with this tragic dilemma makes for a taught and thrilling examination of “doing the right thing” regardless of the ludicrous pronouncements of the lawmakers. After all, what do career politicians know of morality?