''Coming Home'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

title: ''Volviendo a casa'') is a 2018 Argentine film directed and written by

Ricardo Preve Ricardo Preve (born October 24, 1957, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine filmmaker, photographer, and activist. Preve began his film career in the early 2000s as an associate producer on some documentaries. Since then, he has worked as a director, ...

. Defined by Preve as a

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary film, documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or ciné ...

production, ''Coming Home'' is based on the story of Carlo Acefalo, an Italian sailor who died in a desert island during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and whose remains were repatriated to his native country in 2018. The film had a successful run at international festivals, winning awards and nominations.

Plot

During

, the Italian submarine Macalle was shipwrecked in the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, near the coast of

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. 45 crew members ended up on a deserted island. NCO Carlo Acefalo died on the island, being buried by his mates there. Nearly 80 years later, a team arrives at the site and rescues Carlo's remains, taking them back to his home village, Castiglione Falletto, for a funeral ceremony attended by almost the entire village.

Background, production and release

Preve, a certified archaeological diver, became interested in the project while making a photo session of sharks near the coast of

. On one of his expeditions, the filmmaker found some pieces of the Macalle submarine. His subsequent efforts focused on locating the body of NCO Carlo Acefalo, who died and was buried by his colleagues on a desert island. In 2017, historical recreations for the film were shot outdoors in the province of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. In that same year, the team moved to Sudan and attended the exhumation and subsequent transfer of the NCO's body, recording each event for the film. After five years of work, in 2018 the documentary began its tour of festivals and events such as the Latitude Film Awards in London and the Latin Film Festival in Punta del Este, Uruguay, where it began to garner awards and recognition. In July 2019, ''Coming Home'' had its premiere in Argentine cinemas. The film was sponsored by the

National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts The National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (, INCAA; also referred to as the Argentine National Film Board) is an agency of the Government of Argentina The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a p ...

and was financed through a crowdfunding campaign. The

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

lent out nautical implements that helped build the replica of the submarine. About his work, Preve said:

Reception

''Coming Home'' was well received by the critics. Adolfo Martínez of ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'' described it as "sublime because of its emotional scenes and recalls the tragedy that occurred in our country with the ARA San Juan"». Laura Pacheco of ''Escribiendo Cine'' said: "This story moves people to tears for many reasons, it has a heart, because the author's voice is constantly present". Leonardo D'Esposito said in his review for magazine ''Noticias'': "''Coming home'' is a human adventure told with the precision that a good story requires, without falling into dramatic undertones and keeping in mind in each scene what really matters". Juan Pablo Cinelli of '' Página/12'' praised Ricardo Preve's work, stating that "the director manages to transmit the adventurous passion that seems to have driven him to carry out this project". Pablo Arahuete of ''Cinefreaks'' stated that "the introduction of testimonies and extremely enriching talks brings added value to a very careful and rigorous work".

In popular culture

In June 2021, in the edition 2,309 of the Italian comic strip magazine ''Skorpio'', a story entitled "The 44" was published as an adaptation of the documentary and drawn by the Argentine graphic artist Oscar "Oski" Yanez, who was the artist responsible for the drawing of the storyboards for ''Coming Home''. The comic strip compares the story of the Italian submarine Macallé with that of the Argentine submarine A.R.A. San Juan, which sank in 2017.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 8899108 Argentine drama films 2018 films 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s Argentine films 2018 drama films