Writer and Director: Alex Camilleri
Luzzu is a beautiful Maltese-language film about Malta’s age-old fishing industry. Directed by Maltese-American Alex Camilleri, it premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The story of one man, Jesmark Saliba, or Jes, is used to chart the steady decline of traditional ways of fishing in the Maltese islands. The luzzu of the title is their traditional wooden fishing boat. Small and painted in bright primary colours, it has a distinctive pair of eyes on the bow to ward off evil.
As a fisherman, Jes faces two problems; his catch is poor – and it seems that’s been the situation for while – and the whole industry is now tied up with EU bureaucracy. It’s close season for swordfish, so when one appears in Jes’s net, he must throw it back: regulations won’t allow him even to take it home for his family. Now his luzzu is leaking and urgently needs fixing. Meanwhile at home, he and his wife Denise (a strong performance by Michela Farrugia) are told by the doctor that their baby son isn’t putting on enough weight and needs special baby formula. They’re almost at rock-bottom financially and Denise is clearly frustrated that Jes won’t consider other options to make money.
Jes refuses to countenance working for trawler crews who are destroying the seabed. A friend shows off his smart new van, bought with EU money granted in return for giving up his luzzu. But for Jes that would be to lose everything – his luzzu, he explains, belongs to his family. It had been his father’s boat and his grandfather’s before that. One of the most heart-breaking scenes is set in a scrapyard full of discarded luzzus. For a while Jes tries selling directly to local restaurants, but is repeatedly snubbed. It seems the whole business is tied up by black marketeers, who bully fishermen and ensure only their own do well at fish auctions.
Jesmark Scicluna is the real fisherman recruited to play the part of Jesmark Saliba in the film. He’s a remarkable find, able to embody a silent, brooding man, who is nonetheless dignified in his stoic endurance. The story itself is fictional, but built up around the Jes’s experiences. His real-life cousin, David Scicluna, plays the supporting role of David Saliba, the fictional cousin who helps Jes to repair the boat.
The film moves briskly through Jes’s unpalatable options before arriving at its downbeat ending. As a film, it can’t fail to appeal with Léo Lèfevre’s handsome cinematography: you can’t take your eyes off the colourful luzzus in Malta’s clear blue seas. The film’s melancholy sense of a dying way of life is enhanced by Jon Natchez’s gentle filmscore. But Catholic priests still come out to bless the fishermen’s boats, reminding us, in contrast, of Malta’s more conservative ways. It may be a struggle to survive financially, but Denise’s family insist on a formal christening for baby Aiden, as well as an earlier 100th day celebration. It’s an intriguing glimpse into a disappearing way of life and a further treat is to hear the Maltese language, a melodic blend of medieval Sicilian Arabic and Italian.
Luzzu is released on DVD and Video on Demand on 15 August.
