This is a beautiful piece of work by a highly-talented film-maker. It is absorbing, entertaining, and, eventually, emotive and thought-provoking. I have to react against some of the other user comments here, which seem to have reacted negatively to the film's unaccentuated approach to character and narrative. This is not a film which deals in mainstream, realist modes of story-telling; it eschews the straightforward process of "here is our hero, this is where s/he lives, here are some scenes which establish his/her character, here is the sub-plot, here is a supporting character, look how funny he is" etc. This is a film that SUGGESTS and ALLUDES, that seduces the (open-minded) viewer into a sensual and elusive, shifting portrait of a real place (Lampedusa) and some semi-mythical and maybe unreal events. In short, the emphasis is poetic and suggestive, rather than narrative and concrete.. in contrast to many user comments, I found the characters to be beautifully delineated and the storyline to be clear and fascinating. Obviously it would appear that this approach doesn't work for everyone, but I found this film to be that rare thing: Real Cinema.
