The movie tells the story of Corrado (Paolo Pierobon), a senior interior ministry official specialized in international missions to counter irregular immigration. The Italian government sends him on a mission to Libya where, together with Italian and French colleagues, he moves between ports, detention centers, senior Libyan coast guard officials and local tribal leaders involved in people smuggling.

However, Corrado's encounter with Swada, a Somali woman, challenges his inner balance and his belief in "the order of things" How can one reconcile the law and the instinct to help someone in need, even when helping them means breaking the law? That’s the central question of the film.

'Europe has forgotten the time it was fleeing war'

The film’s vocal point is the conflict Italian law enforcement officers face, between the requirements of European policy - to keep migrants from crossing the border to the continent -  and the instinct to want to help those in need.

The film is accompanied by a pamphlet titled "In order to change the order of things," containing short essays from well-known Italian intellectuals, including Somali-Italian writer Igiaba Scego.

"Europe has forgotten when it was she who was fleeing war," writes Igiaba Scegoin her introduction to the pamphlet. "Currently, not many people talk about the right to mobility and the apartheid of travel," she continues. "No one ever thinks that someone from the world's south might want to study, specialize, work for a bit and be able to go back home... Concern about the rights of others is not do-goodery, rather, it means concern about one's own. Because there is no knowing who will be the next to suffer an adverse destiny."

Europe sacrifices human rights, the film director says

Andrea Segre has made documentaries and fiction dramas on the theme of migration for many years. During the 3 years he worked on the film, he says, "I interviewed numerous 'Corrados'." Their job to secure the European borders, the director believes, comes "at the expense of people who are blocked in places where there is no respect for their rights - in terrifying and horrendous places."

Segre believes that his film is coming out at just the right time – he sees Libya’s leadership as "a puppet government" that violates human rights. Europe relying increasingly on Libya to keep migrants at bay, Segre said, was "intolerable," given that detention centers may now be falling to former traffickers. He called for the creation of legal paths [for immigrants] and humanitarian corridors."

Among the sponsors of the film are well-known human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders. The film was released in Italy on September 7 and will be released in France and Belgium shortly.