02/09/2012 - The documentary by the director of Diaz, presented out of competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, recounts the brave landing of the Albanians on Italian coasts in 1991

One morning in August 1991, Vlora, an old merchant vessel coming from Albania, docks in Bari and the sea of humans that travelled on it begin to cry: “Italy, Italy!” Some smile, some wave their arms, others do the victory sign. “I thought: what did they win? Maybe they won the return trip.” In this bitter phrase, spoken by a police inspector who dealt with the repatriation operations at the time, is a perfect summary of The Human Cargo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Daniele Vicari. Presented out of competition of he 69th Venice International Film Festival, it is an impressive documentary that recounts, through extraordinary found footage, the most significant landing of Albanians on the Italian coast in history. The Vlora’s journey to Italy, with twenty thousand Albanians and their cargo of hope, was also the country’s first mass rejection.

A better life: this is what “the beautiful country” represented for the Albanians travelling on Vlora. “We watched Italian TV,” says Robert Budina, then a student at the Tirana Academy of Art, “it was like a window through which we looked to gain our freedom.” His testimony is intertwined with that of men and women who were the same vessel of hope, disappointed by their country’s new political direction after the fall of communism and in search of opportunity. Among those, Kledi Kadiu, a dancer who is now known to Italian TV audiences, but who, like many others at the time, left with no idea what he would find. “I was at the beach with my friends, people started saying that the port of Durrës was open, we followed the crowd.”

Those who think that on board the Vlora there were only desperate people, are mistaken: Eva Karafili, a recent Economics graduate, had a job, but life in Albania did not suit her. The ship was full beyond its capacity and there remained few ways to secure a spot. “My husband told me: ‘Do you feel like climbing over the mooring lines?’ and I said ‘Yes.’ And so, the Vlora, which originated as a sugar transport from Cuba (thus the film’s title), changed its direction to Italy – as the captain was threatened with a screwdriver..

The journey, one on top of the other, without food or water, did not take away from the people’s determination. Arriving in Bari, they felt like heroes. Many jumped into the sea once they arrived in the port. On the deck, a gigantic human carpet quickly began to form. Some were able to escape (an estimated 1,500 were able to stay in Italy), most of them were taken to the stadium in Bari and held there to be repatriated. The documentary does not try to forget the conflict that opposed the mayor of Bari at the time, Enrico Dalfino, who wanted to set up a camp to welcome the refugees, and the President, Francesco Cossiga: the government’s opinion was to send them all back home.

One is touched by the joy with which the protagonists of this story recall their adventure, as a moment of collective insanity. All the testimonies are done on a white background “which unites their look of hope,” explains the director of photography Gherardo Gossi, faithful collaborator of Vicari. Teho Teardo’s incisive and dramatic melodies return to accompany the director’s work (his beautiful music was used for Diaz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniele Vicari
film profile]). A momentous event that has been rigorously reconstructed through images of a frightening journey that leaves the audience in shock: unable to believe that such a thing could happen.

(Translated from Italian)