In the summer of 2015, a youngster, Lukas (Louis Hofmann), grew so dismayed by the plight of refugees attempting to come to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea that he decided to do something about it. These refugees used rubber boats for their journey, and these boats were often dangerously overcrowded, with many people even dying at sea. Since the government wasn't really helping, Lukas decided to step up for the refugees. He searched for a ship to buy, and to secure financing for it, he approached banks as well as charities. Lukas even printed flyers to hand out on the street to make the public aware of his objective. At first, his pleas fell on deaf ears. No one wanted to help him. Then, Nina (Katharina Stark), inspired by his passion, joined him, and after she came on board, others like Mauro (Felice) and Domi (Luisa-Céline Gaffron), the PR manager, also joined Lukas in his mission. Even Kitty (Mala Emde) lent her services to the team. Director Markus Goller presents these scenes with such swift momentum that Lukas gets everything he needs in the blink of an eye. Goller celebrates the youthful spirit.
He also inspects the action that occurs after every rescue mission, such as the disposal of garbage and the sanitization of beds in the medical room of the ship. 23,000 Lives (or 23,000 Leben) makes sure we see the relentlessness with which Lukas and his team fight against right-wingers as well as the authorities for the sake of doing the right thing. For being helpful and kind, they are accused of human trafficking. The coast guard, too, doesn't always aid them in their mission, and, as if threats from strangers on Facebook weren't enough, some men bang on the door of Lukas's apartment at night. You can go to Wikipedia for a general idea or outline of the real-life incident that inspired this film. What's disappointing is that Goller doesn't flesh out this outline with compelling, explosive, yet very intimate specifics.
After finishing their first rescue mission, one crew member talks about holding a baby, while another silently weeps. For these young boys and girls, their first encounter with refugees must have been profoundly moving. It's one thing to hear about them on the news; it's another to actually interact with them closely. Goller doesn't seem to think so, however. He doesn't allow Lukas and the others to talk deeply about their experience. He merely suggests the emotional impact through the characters' sad expressions, which merely suggest that something happened without actually giving voice to their feelings. Goller applies the same trick to Lukas's romantic relationship. There are hints that Lukas and Kitty grow a bit distant due to the former's time at sea. Lukas even remarks that they seem to be living in different worlds, but Goller doesn't flesh out anything. The couple doesn't talk to each other about the stress affecting their relationship, and the director is content with summing up the emotional distance with simple, surface-level shots of unhappy eyes.
In August 2017, the rescue ship Iuventa was seized by the Italian authorities, and the crew was accused of cooperating with smugglers by aiding and abetting illegal immigration, which led to what the ECCHR and Amnesty International reportedly described as "the longest, most expensive, and most extensive criminal trial ever brought against a civilian sea rescue organization." In 23,000 Lives, the trial is reduced to an impersonal montage that simply offers a general sense of what must have happened in real life. The trial begins in late 2017 and ends in April 2024, meaning it unfolds amidst major world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. How do these outside events affect the accused? How do they cope mentally with a grueling judicial proceeding while also handling other significant developments and incidents taking place in society? It's a pity that Goller has a shallow view of his story because the actual events are nothing less than inspiring. All he wants to do is make a statement along the lines of, "Hey, look, all this happened, and you should know about it." Goller, then, didn't pick up the camera to do full justice to a weighty subject. He did so to offer a crash course on a true event. He doesn't lend bite to a political subject; he only Netflix-izes it for easy consumption. The Jugend Rettet organization might be run by heroes, but in 23,000 Lives, their heroic nature is undermined by depicting them as mere puppets for the script. What Goller serves is thuddingly trivial—his lens is overwhelmingly average and unsatisfying.
Final Score - [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times