Under Construction @ Keele 2019 summer 2019, vol 5 issue 1 | Page 34

freedom and also lightness’ 22 . However, Ponzanesi’s observation ironically reveals the film’s
Eurocentric gaze as the feelings of the European viewer take precedence over the suffering
of the refugees which he depicts. Crucially, the gaze is particularly problematic in the
‘identification’ scene in Lampedusa’s migrant centre. In the scene, each migrant is
photographed by the Italian authorities as they hold up an identification number given to
them after rescue operations – in the meantime, Rosi, placed side by side the authorities’
camera, films this official process. The resulting original footage shows Rosi’s problematic
gaze as one man looks at the camera of the authorities and then quickly switches to Rosi’s
lens (as depicted in figure 1).
(Figure 1: Screenshot from Fuocoammare. Rosi, G. 2016)
This specific image speaks of Rosi’s place and gaze as both parallel to and indistinguishable
(interchangeable) from that of the authorities. Rosi’s role and status as a filmmaker on the
rescue ship are both unclear and ambiguous to the refugees. Consequently, the contact
between the refugee’s eyes and Rosi’s camera exposes Rosi’s status: not as a filmmaker
depicting new discourses, but instead that his gaze is aligned to that of official and dominant
22
Ponzanesi, “Of Shipwrecks and Weddings,” 161.
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