Capharnaum (2018)

Directed by: Nadine Labaki | 120 minutes | drama | Actors: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad, Fadi Yousef, Haita ‘Cedra’ Izzam, Alaa Chouchnieh, Nadine Labaki, Elias Khoury, Nour El Husseini, Joseph Jimbazian, Samira Chalhoub, Farah Hasno

Poor people are said to be happier. In the slums of Beirut there is no sign of this – at least not in ‘Capharnaum’. Twelve-year-old Zain (amateur Zain al Rafeea) even takes his parents to court for bringing him into the world. Challenging premise, and certainly not uninteresting. Over the next two hours we learn why.

We even let it go, and occupy ourselves with the rotten life of a big-eyed cub, constantly on the run because of the imperfection of adult life, taking care of others’ brothers and sisters and little ones, who also sees disappearing again, while he gives his parents a big mouth. Whether those people are terrible cannot be determined, because the circumstances are terrible. Children are born, they have no choice, and living in deprivation is often a vicious circle of mutual use relationships.

The documentary staging of ‘Capharnaum’ is lively and restless – at times even dantesque when circumstances and perspectives deteriorate; besides, we’ve seen better films like this before (‘Casanegra’, ‘A Ciambra’). ‘Capharnaum’ (the name of the fishing village on Lake Tiberias where Jesus is said to have walked on water) lacks a dreaming main character. ‘Life is hell’, says the main character: Zain does not dream. Perhaps rightly so and certainly understandable, but then it is better to make a real documentary.

Adults can be cynical, a child cannot. We understand director Nadine Labaki, who also figures in the film as Zain’s lawyer, with her starting point and structure. She presents the charming Zain as a conscience and the viewer as a witness. And knows how to carefully prevent ‘Capharnaum’ from becoming a tearjerker. But again, if the world is as shown, you’d better make a documentary, in our humble opinion.