When Did Fear of the Other Begin?
by Massimiliano Coviello
Overview
September 7, 2017
112′
Andrea Segre
Marco Pettenello, Andrea Segre
Jolefilm with Rai Cinema, with the support of MiBACT, in co-production with Mact Productions and Sophie Dulac
Valerio Azzali
Benni Atria
Sergio Marchesini
Paolo Pierobon, Giuseppe Battiston, Valentina Carnelutti, Olivier Rabourdin, Fabrizio Ferracane, Yusra Warsama, Roberto Citran, Fausto Russo Alesi, Hossein Taheri
Parthénos in collaborazione con ZaLab
Gallery
Poster
Trailer
Pressbook
Representation strategies, rhetorics and stereotypes
Narrative & characters
In Io sono Li (2011) and La prima neve (2013), Andrea Segre and screenwriter Marco Pettenello told stories of migrant lives, focusing on the destinies of individuals crossing borders. In their third feature film, however, the narrative perspective is reversed: L’ordine delle cose shifts its attention to those who defend the borders of Fortress Europe, implementing the measures required for European border control and outsourcing the management of migration flows to third countries. What comes to the surface is the hidden reality of bureaucratic mechanisms, and the political and economic interests at play between Italy and post-Gaddafi Libya.
Thanks to the extensive research conducted by Segre and his collaborators, L’ordine delle cose anticipates the agreements later formalized in the 2017 Italy–Libya Memorandum on combating illegal immigration, and through a fictional construction, foreshadows their consequences for both the denial of migrants’ rights and the very notion of European identity.
The film’s protagonist is Corrado Rinaldi (Paolo Pierobon), a senior official at the Italian Ministry of the Interior specializing in international missions against irregular migration. Corrado is an ordinary Italian: he leads a comfortable life and has a family to return to after his frequent work trips. He is a meticulous man who values order and practices fencing. His government has entrusted him with a daunting task: to negotiate agreements enabling the pushback of migrants into Libyan detention centers.
During a visit to one of the Libyan prisons slated to receive Italian and European funding, he encounters Swada (Yusra Warsama), a Somali woman whose brother was killed by the guards. This meeting unsettles the stability of the official who, deprived of the protective distance that had shielded him from the human tragedies produced by his own work, begins to be overcome by doubt and remorse.
Swada hopes to reach Finland to reunite with her husband. At first, Corrado helps her get in touch with a relative living in Italy, allowing her to leave prison and make her way to Sabratha, near Tripoli. Yet her journey comes to a halt in the Mediterranean, when the boat meant to carry her to Italy – together with other irregular migrants – is intercepted by the coast guard and forced back to Libyan territory. Corrado could save her, helping her reach her husband, but instead he chooses to leave her in the same prison where he first met her.
Swada becomes one of the victims of the inhumane and corrupt system of pushbacks that Corrado himself helped to construct. Though aware of the abyss into which she has been cast, he is nonetheless able to return to his home with its wide glass windows, shielded by routine and by that “order of things” secured through his ministerial role.
Stereotypes & strategies of inclusion
The film’s entire dramatic tension hinges on Corrado’s choice: will the mild-mannered official dare to break the very rules he helped to enforce? Will he help Swada escape the cruelty and corruption of the Libyan militias in order to reunite with her loved ones?
Behind the media clamor over a “migrant invasion” and the politics of shifting responsibility onto third countries for the management of migration flows lie the life stories of men and women divided by shifting boundaries and invisible borders – no less effective for being unseen.
In his director’s notes for L’ordine delle cose, Segre emphasizes that Corrado’s decision concerns, above all, the European public: “I believe that Corrado’s condition is that of many of us in this era that seems to have metabolized injustice. The tension between Europe and migration is calling into question Europe’s very identity. Corrado and his story speak to this identity crisis.”
What follows is an analysis of two sequences from L’ordine delle cose in which Corrado’s choice is staged through specific narrative and representational strategies.
Encounters at a Distance
After their first meeting in prison, Swada and Corrado continue a dialogue from afar. Thanks to the digital memory stick she secretly handed him, the official gains access to fragments of her private life: Swada is an educated woman, with a brother and a small network of contacts between Africa and Europe who were meant to support her along her journey. Screens – serving both as protective barriers and as instruments of connection – recur frequently in the film, and it is through a video call that the two are reunited.
Corrado is in his hotel room in Rome. Swada, having bribed the Libyan militias and secured her release from prison, is convinced she can resume her journey toward Italy and then Finland. She dreams of visiting the Italian capital, she loves epic tales, and when she finally reaches Sacid – her husband, a mathematics researcher at the University of Kotka – she imagines spending her time reading. Corrado, meanwhile, often averts his gaze from the computer screen, awkward yet curious to learn more about this woman’s story. Then the signal weakens, the internet connection fails, and Corrado is free to return to his duties.
The Consequences of the Order of Things
Corrado’s team strikes agreements with the Libyan coast guard and other authorities to intercept boats carrying irregular migrants and send them back to African shores. Swada is among the passengers on the first vessel to be stopped and returned to port. At the Libyan harbor, the migrants are first herded into an open lot and then forced onto a truck to be taken back to the very same prisons where they had already been confined.
Corrado has just arrived on site when he catches sight of Swada’s pale blue dress. His expression darkens, his brows furrow. Swada walks with her head lowered, alongside other women. For an instant, her anguished gaze meets Corrado’s disbelieving eyes. A series of shot–reverse shots captures this fleeting moment of recognition.
Her dream of reuniting with her husband – and her right to travel – has been shattered in the waves of the Mediterranean. The “order of things” that closes borders has asserted itself over Swada’s existence.
Andrea Segre on Filming a Migrant Pushback Scene:
Because of restrictions imposed on the crew, the sequences set in Libya were shot between Sicily and Tunisia. In this video, Segre recounts the filming of the migrant pushback scene, staged in Mazara del Vallo.
Conversations
Director Andrea Segre and screenwriter Marco Pettenello discuss their collaboration, which began with the film Io sono Li (2011), continued with La prima neve (2013), and culminated in The Order of Things (Er Cultura, February 15, 2018).
Paolo Pierobon on his character Corrado Rinaldi, a senior official at the Italian Ministry of the Interior specializing in international missions against irregular migration (CinemaItaliano, August 31, 2017).
“Us and the Others: For a Cinema of Encounter”. In Cinema e Storia, 2024. Massimiliano Coviello interviews director Andrea Segre.
«In documentary work I try to make people ‘cinematic,’ whereas in fiction I try to transform fictional subjects into something real. In my experience moving between fiction and documentary, I have always sought to overcome the closed boundaries of the communities I wanted to portray. […] It would have been impossible to make a documentary centered on a Ministry of the Interior official dealing with irregular migration. But in order to construct the character played by Paolo Pierobon, I met with dozens of officials and partially modeled Corrado Rinaldi on them»
«The viewer of L’ordine delle cose hopes that Corrado will help Swada escape the cruelty of the Libyan prisons. But the order that Corrado, as an official, is supposed to uphold begins to falter – until it ultimately shatters our hopes».
My Protagonist Reflects Europe’s Identity Crisis”. In Cineuropa, September 1, 2017. Camillo De Marco interviews director Andrea Segre.
«Together with co-screenwriter Marco Pettenello, we spent many months meeting with real-life ‘Corrados’ in southern Sicily […] I believe Corrado’s condition is that of many of us in this era that seems to have internalized certain forms of injustice. Corrado reflects Europe’s identity crisis in the face of the migration dilemma».
Business strategies and communication rhetorics
Strategies
The total production cost of L’ordine delle cose amounted to €2,121,953.54. The contribution from the Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual was €772,856.53. The film was also produced with the support of the Bilateral Fund for the Development of Italian–French Cinematographic Co-productions and received backing from the Veneto Region’s Regional Fund for Cinema and Audiovisual, the Lazio Region’s Regional Fund for Cinema and Audiovisual, as well as from the Sicilian Region and the Sicily Film Commission, within the framework of the Sensi Contemporanei Cinema program.
Statements by the director and cast highlight the extensive fieldwork carried out, consisting of interviews with police officers and Ministry of the Interior officials, Libyan video reporters, and migrants who had experienced detention centers in Libya. This research was essential both for the drafting of the screenplay and for the identification of filming locations. Moreover, it allowed the filmmakers to grasp the network of forces and the political-economic interests exerting pressure along Europe’s borders, and, in turn, to construct a realistic portrayal of the characters and their environments.
Communication rhetorics
To accompany the release of the film, Segre and the producers created the pamphlet Per cambiare l’ordine delle cose, a guide to understanding migratory phenomena, their history, and their impact on European culture. The pamphlet includes contributions by Segre, Igiaba Scego, Luigi Manconi, Ilvo Diamanti, and Pietro Massarotto.
Conversations
Andrea Segre discusses aspects of the long production and research process that led to the making of the film (August 21, 2017).
“To Understand L’ordine delle cose. A Conversation with Andrea Segre” by Luca Marchetti. Extracts from Segre’s press conference at the Venice Film Festival 2017, published in Sentieri Selvaggi, August 31, 2017.
«The first idea for the story came to us about four years ago. It wasn’t foresight, but even then there was the sense that something was about to happen. Our country had already experienced a similar situation in 2008, and the signs that those issues might resurface were quite evident. […]
To create the character of Corrado and situate him in the right context, my collaborators and I did an enormous amount of research, focused on two main fronts. The first was the human apparatus on the Sicilian coast, where people deal with the emergency on a daily basis. Talking with police officers and officials from the Ministry of the Interior, at various levels of the state hierarchy, was illuminating. […] The other front was Libya,” Segre continues. “We could not film in Libya, so the ‘African’ sequences were shot between Sicily and Tunisia. But thanks to the testimony of Libyan video reporters and the 300 extras who had themselves lived through the experience of the Libyan detention centers, we achieved a level of authenticity and credibility that I am very proud of».
An excerpt from the event “In Search of the Other: Gazes, Archives, and Memories”, in which Segre discusses his production partnership with Rai Cinema
Circulation and audience responses
Circulation patterns
Circulation and grassroots distribution
In Italy, the film benefited from the support of Parthénos and from grassroots distribution promoted by ZaLab and its network of film clubs, associations, and citizens’ groups that organized screenings and debates, often with the participation of the director himself. Internationally, the film was distributed in Australia by Palace Films and in New Zealand by Palace Films. The French involvement is also noteworthy: co-producer Mact and Sophie Dulac also handled distribution in France.
In addition to being recognized as a film of cultural interest and receiving financial support from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – Directorate General for Cinema, L’ordine delle cose was also screened in the Italian Senate.
Awards and festivals
L’ordine delle cose was presented as a special screening at the Venice Film Festival 2017. It received a Special Mention at the HRNs Award – Special Prize for Human Rights and the Focus on Human Rights Award at the Tutti Nello Stesso Piatto International Food and Film Festival. At the 2018 BIF&ST – Bari International Film & TV Festival, Segre and Pettenello received the “Tonino Guerra” Prize for Best Story. That same year, the film won Best Feature at the Migranti Film Festival and the Kineo “Diamonds for Italian Cinema” Award. In 2019, the film received the “Violetta d’Argento” Prize for Best Film at the Parma International Music Film Festival.
The impact of the film on public debate
The circulation of the film and the debates it sparked contributed to the creation of the national forum “Per cambiare l’ordine delle cose”, established to develop and promote new migration policies.
In March 2025, following the arrest for crimes against humanity and subsequent repatriation of Osama al-Najeem, the Libyan general better known by the nickname Almasri (“the Egyptian”), Segre and ZaLab relaunched the distribution of L’ordine delle cose. As the director explained:
«The Almasri case has revealed a serious structural problem in the relationship between the Italian state and the Libyan human traffickers who were promoted to leading positions within the Libyan Coast Guard. This is a direct consequence of the agreements between Italy and Libya, signed in 2017 and confirmed ever since. The roots of this story are recounted in the film L’ordine delle cose, which was released in September 2017».
Reception
The civic value of Segre’s film, its ability to interpret the European crisis in relation to migration, the blending of documentary observation with narrative invention, the realism in the construction of its characters, and their ethical and moral tension are the elements most appreciated by critics and audiences alike.
Conversations
Andrea Segre discusses the circulation of the film in theaters and festivals (ER Cultura, February 15, 2018).
Italian and foreign press
Italian Press
Emiliano Morreale, “Thus Corrado Changed: From the Interior Ministry to Libya Among the Earth’s Outcasts,” La Repubblica, September 1, 2017.
«The events of recent weeks have made Andrea Segre’s film even more timely, ‘recovered’ as a special event in the Venice selection. Fortunately so: because it is a beautiful and important film, one that speaks of migrants, refugees, and hotspots with precision and emotion, without rhetoric or cheap shots, carefully constructing a story while above all demonstrating that, beyond current events, narrative cinema has the means to probe deeply, to weave together the threads of individual and collective experience».
Goffredo Fofi, “A Good Year for Italian Cinema,” Internazionale, September 1, 2017.
«With L’ordine delle cose, Andrea Segre even manages to narrate the world of politics – or rather, of the state bureaucracy – by confronting the highly topical issue of relations with Libya and the question of migration […]».
Francesca Divella, “L’ordine delle cose and the Global South”, Cinefilia Ritrovata, September 22, 2017.
«From the Turco–Napolitano law onward, through the terrible worsening of the Bossi–Fini legislation, Italian policy (in line with broader Western and European approaches) has conceived a binary system that simply prevents migrants from crossing national borders legitimately or settling elsewhere. They can only ‘choose’ between becoming undocumented or applying for asylum. But they cannot travel freely. That privilege is reserved for citizens of the Global North, increasingly set in opposition to the Global South. Citizens of the North, like the film’s protagonist Paolo Pierobon/Corrado, board and disembark from airplanes that take them around the globe in a matter of hours – whether for work, study, leisure, or family reunification».
Anton Giulio Mancino, “Undesired and Undesirable: Francesco Rosi/Andrea Segre”, Cineforum, no. 582, 2019.
«Like Rosi, Segre is drawn to the principle of coincidences and connections. For both, to connect means as much to bring together or equate as to understand. An interwoven comprehension of events is the shared key to privileged access to reality. Without it, there is no way to show or to construct a narrative that deconstructs the emblematic, merely apparent ‘order of things’».
Foreign Press
Camillo De Marco, “The Order of Things: When fiction reveals a hidden truth”, Cineuropa, 1 settembre 2017.
«Irregular immigration has become a common problem for countries in the European Union following the Schengen agreements, compelling them to form a system of joint control in order to increase cooperation with police forces in non-European countries. An international task force of highly specialised police was created to manage this system and forms the premise for The Order of Things […], and tells the story of one of these experts. Fictional characters and facts are placed within an authentic social reality, just like the beginning of Francesco Rosi’s 1963 masterpiece Hands Over the City».