Hawala is more than a documentary: it is a therapy, a journey into the human soul, through the voices of those who have rarely had the chance to share their story. Through the troubled stories of Mohamed, Yeyinou, Natacha and Zakaria, the movie transports us along the winding and dangerous paths leading to Italy, illuminating the darkness of the abuse, violence and betrayals suffered along the path. We witness as these African migrants, victims of human trafficking, move away from their initial reluctance to share their experiences towards emotional outpour inevitably leading to cathartic release. These people, along with many others, are today assisted in Italy by organizations that deal with their psycho-physical recovery, but their stories represent scars that are difficult to heal and reveal the brutal realities that migrants face in their search for freedom and safety. Natasha, 7 months pregnant, crosses the mediterranean to find safety for her and her daughter. Once in Sicily, she discovers not only that she had contracted HIV, but that she had also transmitted it to her daughter. Yeyinou’s baby daughter was the fruit of a group abuse suffered in Tunisia, struggles against the demons of family abuse, ominous beliefs related to black magic spells and an infibulation suffered while still a child, overcoming numerous episodes of self-harm and suicide attempts. Mohamed, having fled the political instability of Côte d'Ivoire, finds himself among those in charge of the prison where he himself had been tortured and detained in Libya. After numerous episodes of slavery and detention he arrives in Sicily hoping to rebuild a new life for himself.
Finally, Zakaria experiences the odyssey of being repeatedly abandoned in the desert with other deportees, manages to escape it and find work in Algeria while still a minor, but he is subjected to violence by the wife of the landlord of the house and as if that were not enough, he suffers assaults that cause him to lose an eye the result of which he now risks total blindness.
In addition to these testimonies, there is the touching voice of Binta, who, speaking to us in her Gambian Mandinka conveys a universal grief so powerful that it needn’t any subtitles to be understood. But why this movie? Because "Hawala," an ancient money transfer system, today is mostly a nightmare of human trafficking, exploitation and violence, commercialized by multinational corporations that profit on the backs of the most vulnerable.
This documentary not only denounces, but also celebrates the resilience and strength of those who undertake dangerous crossings across the desert and sea, fighting for their freedom and dignity, toward a more just and humane future. In some places right now, a human being's life is worth less than a wad of cash. How are we to remain silent?