Lifeboat (2018) Online

Today's media plays much attention on the border crossing but now many refugees are crossing the Mediterranean sea. People and organizations are trying to stop illegal human trafficking so that there no unidentified deaths. This short documentary by Skye Fitzgerald and funded by the New Yorker focuses on Sea Watch, a non profit group based in Europe.

The documentary encapsulate refugee stories coming from Africa and the Middle East. The film tries to show how Sea Watch manages to reach the boats of people on the sea then communicate to certain children and women suffering from dehydration.

Its powerful imagery relied of coastal people and authority discovering bodies washing up to shore. What lacked (due to the film's time) is the question of why does this happen, we are left by one of the Sea Watch's member about their opinions ob global economy.

Upon a first viewing, Lifeboat put me to sleep. There is so much appeal to the pathos here that I could not find it in myself after a long day to sit through it. There is hardly any explanation in this short. Rather, it follows Jon Castle, the captain of a ship helping Sea Watch, who save migrants fleeing Africa and the Middle East for a better life in Europe across the Mediterranean Sea. The endeavor is noble and honorable. I really did admire some of his quotes about the heart and helping other people. However, the whole movie felt too long for its subject matter. There are many shots and scenes I felt did not need to be included. Had the film been pared down to, say, 15 minutes, it may have been more easily digested. I got the idea of how serious the situation was when I saw the figures on the screen and a few of the interviews. It was a shame to see how they were living and trying to cross the Sea. The film did not compel me to take action in any way, though. It merely told me about a topic I have already seen so many times in news headlines. I would call this movie passable.

"LIFEBOAT" (what's with the cringeworthy capitalization???) is an American, mostly English-language documentary from 2018 directed by Skye Fitzgerald and this one runs for slightly under 35 minutes. The subject is as current (no pun intended!) as it gets with major focus on the refugee crisis or migrant crisis lets call it. We find out how thousands of people flee from Libya and what the people waiting for them have to do to save them. I wont go into great detail about the film. It is what you could expect. Some information about navigation at sea, some facts about why it is all so difficult and complicated (and it sure is) and some information about migrants dying in the water and shots of hundreds of them on way too tiny boats. Okay, this all I did see coming. The flim clearly tries to be appealing in terms of the emotional impact. But you need to look far further in order to understand the problem here. Let me help you with that. On one occasion, there is talk about people mostly fleeing from a prison at the sea side. And they talk about the inhumane conditions in said prison. Guess what? It. Is. A. Prison. People are there because they are criminals. Is it really the best idea to reward these criminals, really the lowest of the low with probably virtually no sense of how to behave according to the law by helping them make it to the (more) civilized world? I strongly disagree. Sure you could say they are there because they were prosecuted for having different political views than the government wants them to have, but still. I am sure many of them are really just petty thieves or worse. But that is all just speculation. Another aspect I don't like is that refugee means virtually migrant these days and I could not disagree more. People who are in danger of being followed, maybe killed, by the government have every right to leave the country and build an existence elsewhere. However, there is no way these thousands (actually millions) of migrants are all prosecuted. I heard many interviews when they were asked why they left their country and the answer was "I was unemployed". That is not reason enough. Not by any means, especailyl if they refuse to adhere and assimilate in their new home as it sadly has happened so many times. In general I think it is a bad idea to help everybody out because the more you help the more will come and they don't need it. They also don't need to risk their lives for that. If we help them out we basically hand the cat a fish. If we actually use these billions of dollars and euros to make a difference in said countries for the people there to have a better life, then we teach the cat how to fish. This is the only right approach in my opinion. I think this movie was made for all the wrong reasons and only the easily influenced will see it as important or intelligent. But it moves things much further into the wrong direction. Shame Hollywood and the Oscars fell for it. But looking at how liberal it is, I am not surprised at all. I hope it won't win the Oscar. Not that Black Sheep would be a better choice. My hope still goes out to "A Night at the Garden", but somehow it would really surprise me. Yet to see the other 2 nominees. This one here gets a thumbs-down and really 2 stars out of 5 is almost a bit too much honestly. Watch something else instead. Okay yes it is too much. I reduce it to one.

This Oscar-nominated (at time of writing) short film aims to put a first-person perspective on the human toil of the migrant crisis of crossings from Libya into Europe. It opens with the recovery of a body back in Libya (one of many), and then joins a non-profit organization running boats rescuing those on overcrowded and precarious boats. In the second half it presents some first hand interviews to understand why people are willing to risk their life to get across the sea.

In watching it, the lack of commentary is very obvious. We do get talking heads, and of course the makers have their political opinion, but it doesn't have anyone pushing a bigger political point. Of course it feels like it is very much leaning one way - but I think that is less politics, and more humanity coming through. I confess at the start I was ready to play devil's advocate on the bigger picture, and be annoyed at any simplistic suggestion that everyone should be allowed to travel to Europe for a better life - and I do doubt this is the solution; however what the film does well is to force the viewer to say that in the faces of young men and women fleeing slavery, abuse, and mistreatment - all in a place where even those not facing those things don't have a great time of it.

I imagine the film will annoy those that come from a place further to the right of me on the spectrum, but really the film is balanced. It is hard to watch because it puts you on the boats and it does a good job of simply saying "okay, tomorrow we'll fix world poverty and replace unchecked dictatorships, but in the meantime, what do we gain by leaving these people to drown?"