Fishing new lives and minds in Italian and Maltese cinema: Tornando a casa and Simshar

The issues facing migrants and fishermen are at the core of Vincenzo Marra's Tornando a casa (Sailing Home) (2002) (Italy) and Rebecca Cremona's Simshar(2014) (Malta). Both films are shot primarily in the southern Mediterranean Sea and, although they feature similar life dramas and hazardous rescues, they are directed according to different aesthetic principles. While Simshar exhibits the highly emotional tones of a tragedy and a predictable ending, Sailing Home uses a prosaic style and offers a ground-breaking denouement. Inspired by a true story, Cremona's film helps reinforce concepts of 'Malteseness' while Marra's negotiates identity concerns, regardless of the protagonist's nationality. The Mediterranean Sea thus becomes the backdrop to unpredictable encounters that allow the promise of new friendships and can even change human destiny. The objective of this article is to draw out an iconographic and thematic comparison between these two films, arguing that they provide deep insight into current tragedies in a documentary-like, yet highly artistic way.