Capernaum [Capharnaüm] **** (2018, Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad, Fadi Yousef, Haita ‘Cedra’ Izzam, Alaa Chouchnieh, Nadine Labaki, Elias Khoury) – Movie Review

Co-writer/ director Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum [Capharnaüm] [Chaos] (2018) is a well deserved Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year for Lebanon.

Zain Al Rafeea gives a brilliant little performance as Zain, a 12-year-old Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the crime of giving him life. Escaping his negligent parents, he surviving through his wits on the streets, where he meets Ethiopian migrant worker Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), who gives him food and shelter while Zein takes care of her baby son Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole). When Zein is jailed for five years for a violent crime, he seeks justice in court by suing his parents for neglect.

Nadine Labaki handles everything perfectly, in a film heart-rendingly inspired by real life stories, those of the actors, and particularly that of young Zain. Serious issues arise, and there is plenty of food for thought, but Capernaum is not issue led. The film is warm and humanistic, and feels vibrantly real and truthful. Even so, the main triumph is the natural and compelling performance of young Zain Al Rafeea, though of course the director must take considerable credit for that too.

Also in the cast are Kawsar Al Haddad as Souad, the Mother, Fadi Yousef as Selim, the Father, Haita ‘Cedra’ Izzam as Sahar, the Sister, Alaa Chouchnieh as Aspro, Nadine Labaki as Nadine, Elias Khoury as The Judge.

As expected, Capernaum lost out and Roma won Best Foreign Language Film of the Year for Mexico.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

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