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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 MAY 2016 36 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 X-Men: Apocalypse (12) 10:30, 14:15, 17:45, 20:50 The Jungle Book (PG) 10:35, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30, 20:50 Despite the Falling Snow (12A) 16:05, 18:20, 20:50 Captain America – Civil War (12A) 10:35, 14:00, 17:45, 20:50 Mother's Day (PG) 13:40, 18:35 Eye in the Sky (15) 10:30, 16:15, 21:10 Bastille Day (15) 10:30, 14:00, 16:15, 18:25, 21:00 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45 , 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Zootropolis (U) 14:00, 16:15 Our Kind of Traitor (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:00, 23:20 The Jungle Book (PG) 14:00, 18:15, 20:45 Mustang (12) 14:05, 18:20 Bad Neighbours 2 (15) 14:05, 16:15, 18:30, 21:00, 23:25 Criminal (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Ratchet and Clank (U) 14:15, 16:30, 18:35, 20:45 Eye in the Sky (15) 14:15, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:20 Despite the Falling Snow (12A) 14:20, 16:30, 18:40, 21:10 X-Men: Apocalypse (3D) (12A) 14:30, 18:15, 20:30, 21:15, 23:20 Captain America: Civil War (12A) 14:30, 18:00, 21:05 Mother's Day (PG) 14:30, 18:00, 20:45 Frankenstein (PG) 15:00 Taking Stock (15) 16:15, 20:55 Robinson Crusoe (3D) (PG) 16:15, 18:30, 23:05 How to Be Single (15) 18:45, 21:05 Captain America: Civil War 2D 12A 23:00 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Jungle Book (PG) 11:10, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:50 Bastille Day (15) 11:05, 13:40, 16:10, 18:35, 21:00 Captain America: Civil War (12A) 11:00, 14:00, 18:00, 21:05 X-Men: Apocalypse (12) 10:55, 13:50, 17:55, 20:55 Eye in the Sky (15) 10:50, 13:40, 15:55, 18:20, 21:00 Bad Neighbours 2 (15) 11:15, 13:35, 16:00, 18:30, 20:45 Despite the Falling Snow (12A) 10:55, 13:30, 16:05, 18:15, 20:55 ARGUABLY the shining star of this year's edition of the Valletta Film Festival, Gianfranco Rosi's award-winning, dispassionate exploration of the migrant cri- sis and how it affects the island of Lampedusa is a beautiful but sobering experience whose con- centrated aesthetic precision is matched by its pursuit of unruf- fled truth. Emerging after months of on- site immersion, Fuocoammare ('Fire at Sea') is a documentary that feels like a feature film but that comes with none of the showy gimmicks that such a genre hybrid might imply. In- stead, what we get is a presen- tation of characters, places and situations which Rosi has an intimate awareness and knowl- edge of, and which he judicious- ly edits into his film to paint a rich, if ambiguous, picture of a society in crisis. Our way into his world is through the eyes of 12-year-old boy Samuele – son of a fisher- man and more interested in fir- ing slingshots at unsuspecting cactus plants than he is in con- centrating on his schoolwork. Both a source of nervy humanity and comic relief for Rosi's film, Samuele pops in and out of the languid but troubling narrative, which juxtaposes his day-to- day life with the problems sur- rounding irregular migration to his native Lampedusa. Apart from a few introductory frames of starkly factual cap- tions – detailing Lampedusa's recent history with boat migra- tion – Rosi's documentary has no overbearing voice narrating, or even nudging, the documen- tary's mission statement for- ward to the audience. The re- sult is that the presented events come across as a drawn out and more beautifully shot version of Euronews's 'No Comment' seg- ment. I don't mean this in a dis- paraging sense at all: if anything, the technique is a masterful way of approaching cinema verite, and wedded to Rosi's sumptu- ous photography – the direc- tor also took care of cinemato- graphic duties – it makes for a bewitching experience. But thankfully, the focus on the island's natural beauty and the impeccably lit interiors – both a home and small radio studio – isn't there to prettify and dis- tract. Rosi stakes his claim as a filmmaker of aesthetic convic- tion only to clarify his thematic exploration to its fullest. Apart from the already chal- lenging hybrid format Rosi op- erates in – basically a documen- tary but with an fiction film's intimate character focus – his approach won't satisfy those eager for moments of narrative closure or satisfying catharsis that we expect from fiction films. And neither does it have the – however limited – comforts of the traditional documentary's rationalising voice: there is no journalistic line of inquiry here that's either satisfied or crushed in the end. Instead, things taper on, and the film leaves the floor to us to puzzle out and discuss what the future might hold: for Lampedusa in particular, and for the migrant crisis in general. But there are striking mo- ments that are nothing short of cinematic poetry. The quiet ap- proach that favours long takes and creates stillness makes for some amazing visual opportu- nities, like a magic-hour shot of one of the migrant boats open- ing its hatch that would not be out of place in a Terrence Mal- ick feature. But Rosi remains committed to humanity above all, and I strongly believe that the film's trademark sequence is the one in which a group of as- sembled migrants sing on their plight away while stuck on a boat. It's not even remotely hyper- bolic to describe the scene as a Greek chorus. We see and hear them concentrating in their pain, secure in the knowledge that this is their only viable con- duit for it. Fire at Sea will be screened on June 8 at Fort St Elmo, Valletta at 21:00, as part of the Valletta Film Festival. For more informa- tion and a full programme, log on to: http://www.vallettafilm- festival.com/programme/ The truth takes time ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ BABY'S ON FIRE ★ ★ ★ ★ FIRE IN THE DISCO ★ ★ ★ FIRE IN THE SKY ★ ★ FIRE IN THE TACO BELL ★ FRICTION BURN FILM Pier pressure: Young Samuele is the jittery protagonist in Gianfraco Rosi's sensitive and award-winning documentary FIRE AT SEA ★ ★ ★ ★ By Teodor Reljic