The film is centered around Corrado Rinaldi (Paolo Pierobon), who travels to Libya together with two partners in a mission for the Italian government to negotiate arrangements to stop immigrants from getting into Italy and the EU. We see the team inspecting a camp in which refugees are potentially mistreated. He insists that human rights ought to be respected, but this might just be demanded in a superficial and ultimately inefficient way in order to tick a box. A major event in the plot is when Corrado gets into contact with Swada, a Somalian refugee who asks him for help. Corrado is a well-to-do and loving father and husband, ex-police officer and high level fencer, and portraying the contrast between his family life and what he sees in Libya (in which his family takes some interest) is a core theme of the film.
The story of the film is rather simple, and much is made of elaborating the complex background with negotiations and interviews involving local Libyan actors (I mean actors not actors;-), Libyan authorities, the Italian government and EU representatives. Another major focus of observation is Corrado's character and his way of dealing with the difficult situation in interplay with his team, particularly the tension between what his mission ought to be and his human impulse to help somebody in trouble.
Ultimately this is an intelligent and credible film, showing basic dilemmas without presenting easy solutions. The spectator gets some good food for thought, and the humanistic message of the film is conveyed without simplifying and over-dramatising.
The acting and visuals are good; Paolo Pierobon in particular manages to bring together the different sides of Corrado, the official negotiator with integrity and distance, the sharp martial artist and ex-cop, the loving family man, and the dealings with his emotional dilemma, in a very convincing way.
I have little to criticise about this film, so why do I not give it even more stars? Of course 8/10 means I think it's a very good film that I recommend warmly. The only issue I have is that although the film has an emotional aspect, I find it more intelligent than moving. It comes over as a rather slow character and situation study rather than something that has you glued to your seat from the first to the last minute. The film sticks to its credibility by avoiding melodrama and also all too shocking images (what we see is at most mildly disturbing), and this can be seen as a quality. It is fine for what it is, even if this is at the cost of some entertainment of which more would've been possible in other ways.
