Starring
Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole,
Kawthar A; Haddad, Fadi Kamel Youssef, Nour el Husseini, Alaa
Chouchnieh. Directed by Nadine Labaki. (2018/123 min).
ON
BLU-RAY FROM SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
Review
by Fluffy the Fearless🙀
Sometimes
it seems like the worst parents are the ones who end up having the
most kids.
Take
Souad & Selim El Hahi, for example, living in a tiny, squalid
slum they share with at-least six kids, none of whom even have birth
certificates. Neither parent appears to work. While Dad mostly sleeps
on the couch, Mom regularly sends 12-year-old Zain to various
pharmacies with phony prescriptions to get drugs the family sells to
street junkies. Zain also works at a nearby market for Assad, who
owns their apartment and lets them live rent free because he has his
eye on Zain’s 11-year-old sister, Sahar, who Mom & Dad
eventually offer as a wife, apparently so they can remain in the
building. Worst of all, despite being neglectful, irresponsible,
abusive and indifferent to their kids’ suffering, Souad & Selim
keep having babies.
The
viewer doesn’t learn all of this right away. At the beginning of
Capernaum, Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is serving five years in a
juvenile prison for stabbing a man. He’s also suing his parents for
giving birth to him. Zain’s story leading up to that point
comprises the bulk of the narrative, told in flashback. Streetwise
and resourceful, he’s the only member of the family with a sense of
anything resembling responsibility. Since Zain is the family’s main
source of income, his parents refuse to let him attend school. He’s
also the only person who seems to care about Sahar and is fiercely
protective of her, especially around Assad. Eventually, he’s had
enough and plans to escape the nightmare with Sahar. Unfortunately,
his parents sell her to Assad before he gets the chance.
 |
| The Hangover Part IV: The Daycare Years |
Zain
runs away and tries to make it on his own, but can’t find
legitimate work. Then he meets Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), an
ex-prostitute and illegal immigrant with a false ID that allows her
to work. She also has a one-year-old son, Yonas, that she’s barely
able to take care of herself and forced to hide for fear of calling
attention to herself. But unlike Zain’s own family, Rahil is a
loving mother, willing to do anything to keep Yonas safe, which
includes having Zain babysit him while she’s away at work.
Eventually, however, she does not return. Now Zain must rely on his
own resourcefulness to not only care for Yonas, but keep him out of
the hands of Aspro, an ID forger who's also a human
trafficker. It’s at this point that Capernaum grows really
heartbreaking.
To
call the film bleak is an understatement. Though extremely
compelling, Capernaum consists of one emotional gut-punch
after another, made all-the-more harrowing by its setting and
characters, both of which look and feel distressingly real. Beirut,
as depicted by writer-director Nadine Labaki, might arguably be the
worst place on Earth to raise a family that isn’t a war zone. As a
product of his environment, Zain almost immediately earns our
empathy. Though he isn’t always likable, the love and
responsibility he feels for his sister – and later, Yonas –
drives the narrative. Capernaum also features some of the most
hateful antagonists I’ve seen in a long time, and not just his
despicably narcissistic parents. By the time we learn who Zain
stabbed and why, not only do we understand his rationale, we’re as
enraged as he is.
But
believe it or not, the film does come to a wonderfully satisfying
conclusion that justifies running the viewer through an emotional
wringer. Whether or not Zain’s story is worth enduring more than
once is another matter. After all, this is over two hours of misery
inflicted mostly on children. Either way, Capernaum is a film
that’s difficult to forget.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
MAKING-OF
FEATURETTE
Q&A
WITH DIRECTOR NADINE LABAKI AND ACTOR ZAIN AL RAFEEA
AUDIO
COMMENTARY – With Director Nadine Labaki
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R. LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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