The eponymous protagonist of the film is a former assassin. She is a xenophobic and violent person, her life has always been filled with hate towards those who don’t share the same physical or cultural features; chiefly immigrants and muslims. Her job during the summer is to guard the beach and pick up the corpses of illegal immigrants who have drowned off-shore in their desperate attempt to reach the coast earning petty cash for each body. It’s a lucrative business so she has to face the competition of many illegal corpse-collectors. Nahiri, a Tunisian man, is one of them. He works with a group of illegal immigrants, who snatches the corpses from Caina and sells them in the black market. In order to increase their profit, it is not rare that they drown those who survived but are too weak to fight for their lives. It’s a ruthless business in which, sometimes, the opposites attract.
Direction
Unflinching gaze at Italy's immigration underbelly.
Acting
Luisa Amatucci makes despicable almost understandable.
Cinematography
Paradise beaches soaked in human degradation.
Director
Stefano Amatucci
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on real reports of 'beach scavengers' in Lampedusa and Sicily who recovered migrant bodies for government payouts.
Director Amatucci cast his own daughter Luisa as Caina, adding uncomfortable familial intimacy to the character's brutality.
IT
