X
- 2018
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 6 m
- 2018
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 6 m
Summary Capernaum (Chaos) tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the "crime" of giving him life. Capernaum follows Zain, a gutsy streetwise child as he flees his negligent parents, survives through his wits on the streets, takes care of Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her baby son, Yonas...
Directed By: Nadine Labaki
- 2018
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 6 m
- 2018
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 6 m
Capernaum
75
8.3
Where to Watch
Summary Capernaum (Chaos) tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the "crime" of giving him life. Capernaum follows Zain, a gutsy streetwise child as he flees his negligent parents, survives through his wits on the streets, takes care of Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her baby son, Yonas...
Directed By: Nadine Labaki
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
75
82% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
15% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
75
82% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
15% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Capernaum is a searing, unforgettable work.
Labaki is bearing witness here, and Capernaum (the name means “chaos”) doesn’t flinch from the fact that there are villains in the system. But none of them – none of them – are children.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 112 User Ratings
8.3
88% Positive
99 Ratings
99 Ratings
9% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
3% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 112 User Ratings
8.3
88% Positive
99 Ratings
99 Ratings
9% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
3% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Unflinching yet undeniably powerful film, Capernaum is a gut-wrenching portrayal of a childhood stolen, a stark indictment of societal inequalities.
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Capernaum is a gutwrenching story that will leave you with tears in your eyes, this is a brilliant exercise in realism that explores its theme with no boundaries or limits, it dives in and it tells a poignant and a raw story that will shake your very existence with its powerful imagery that tells a story of its own, when it comes to realism in film it's always compromisable but here it's the whole essence of the film, everything is centered on reality and how cruel it can be, Capernaum doesn't take shortcuts as well, it tells it as it is, Nadine Labaki the director carefully and delicately let her sequences do a lot of talking even when dialogue is absent, it is articulate to a point where words are not needed to make a statement, Labaki's cast is nothing short of perfect, Zain who plays the kid in the film performed flawlessly, he moved me to tears many times throughout the film with his words and mannerisms, I love how everything was authentic to a point where you'll actually believe that you're watching a real life documentary about real life people, that's how powerful Capernaum is, it captured a state of humanity that often people deliberately chose to ignore just because they can't process the situation or understand it, films like these are necessary to remind people that we're all human being and we all need help no matter who we are and how much money or power we have, we were created to work thorough our problems and help each other along the way, sadly empathy has become a rare commodity in the world we live nowadays. Capernaum is daring and it screams realism, I can honestly say that this is one of the best films I have ever seen in my life, in other words, this is a work of art.
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There is passion and compassion here, and Labaki’s film brings home what poverty and desperation mean, and conversely what love and humanity mean.
It’s a deeply assured piece of direction, and though it only plays a few emotional notes, they are ones that won’t soon leave your memory.
The acting is fine throughout, and director Labaki (she plays Zain's lawyer) has a genius for handling untutored performers like Al Rafeea.
It’s a simplistic film in some ways, with a naive ending – but there is energy and vigour, too.
Zain Al Rafeea's naturalness, however uncanny, only makes the film's maneuverings seem all the more obvious.
Nadine Labaki aspiring Labenese film director finds herself tackling a gut-wrenching surreal drama. with some of the best performances from a 12 year old to date.
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In the early chapters of my life, Lebanon was an elusive figure of my imagination. Being born and raised in Toronto, I would hear stories of my homeland from my cousins, uncles and grandmothers. From their descriptions of the countryside, my homeland played in my mind like a fantastic Wild West; the stories always had an underlying sense that the country was a type of Eden, a magical place with magical people, a gem placed perfectly in the midst of chaos.
When I made my first trip to the country I was twelve years old. My familial roots trace back to the northern part of the country to a town called Joub Janine in a region known as the Beqaa Valley which is nestled right below the currently devastatingly war-torn Syria. My experiences were life altering; a colossal shift to my consciousness occurred about the world we live in and how that **** spins, how you can enter a world so electric and alien to your own world with just a 12 hour flight by plane.
My first visit due to age was made up of primarily the country’s decadent cuisine and visits to my family.
I went back at the age of seventeen with my brother for three weeks, and it was then that my Wild West fantasy began to take true form in reality. Streets cross each other making a labyrinth of life, electric lines lay over and under and all around each other, looming above the streets like a friendly spider’s web. The youth is passionate and wild, full of life and wisdom gathered from their surroundings complete with beautiful flowing hair and beautifully wrapped Hijabs rest on the woman as they socialize, smoking tobacco out of hookah pipes that give off the most fragrant of aromas. This aroma follows you, like the sun that stays on your shoulders with strength, or the full flavored tobacco that wafts through the streets and barber shop. The barber shop that is run by a man who’s lost his tongue in the war yet he still knows just what you want from your hand signals. Lebanese like to use their hands when they talk, they throw them down towards the floor like they are letting go of weights and point as if they were being cut from a Tintin comic strip. Firearms are readily available and commonplace yet no one ever shoots each other, they are carried for their destined use of protection, and perhaps the occasional couple of discharges in the many farm fields of the country. Seatbelts are ignored and so are road signs, if any, yet everyone seems to get along just fine. Some ride in German automobiles while some entire families ride on one motorized scooter, newborns and all.
Capernaum, the newest film by Nadine Labaki shows just how exceptionally talented the renowned Lebanese auteur is at capturing that land that holds my heart, and hers as well. Her style is, if comparable, reminiscent of the flavour of Larry Clark’s Kids, with a dash of Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone, and many hints of Vittorio Di Sica’s brilliant Umberto D. The film is poignant; revolving completely around the world of a twelve-year old boy named Zain (Zain Al Rafeea). He lives in a steamy, crammed apartment with his band of siblings, and neglectful mother (Fadi Yousef) and father (Kawsar Al Haddad) in a war-torn neighborhood in Beirut. His parents out of devastating desperation give their daughter to the landlord of their building in hopes of leniency with their payment of rent, an act that naturally enrages Zain, causing him to run away from his family into the abyss of Beirut.
In his journey of self-preservation destiny he meets an Ethiopian migrant worker Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw). Rahil has an infant child of her own name Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole), who gives such a contribution to the organic documentary inspired style that is truly remarkable. Rahil takes Zain under her care for some time providing some of the most beautifully shot scenes of intimacy in cinema over the past little while. The film’s heart is transcended through Zain and Yonas; their acting is so poetic, watching these two children interact, with the slightest of movements, give elusive kinetic energy that never feels premeditated in the slightest.
Drama ultimately knocks on the films door and heartbreak occurs with Zain climatically commits a violent act causing him to stand in court with his parents. He declares hatred for his parents and seeks justice for them giving him life when they have no intention to properly love or care for him, as well as his siblings. This embodies the idea of Capernaum which is according to Libaki “to give a voice to children who otherwise do not have one.”
I have watched a select couple of brief scenes from Labaki’s previous films, yet never have I seen one in its entirety and this was quite the film to start me off. The opening sequence is melodious; we see Zain with a number of other children, horse playing through the tangles of flights of stairs and street corners of the neighbourhood.
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(Mauro Lanari)
The initial bomb is only fictitious: a 12-year-old legally accuses his parents for bringing him into the world. If it were indeed a condemnation of the "Geworfenheit"/thrownness/dejection, parents would also be victims and the problem would shift to parenthood as an acquired and not ontological role. Oliver Twist, Antoine Doinel and Bruno Ricci ("Bicycle Thieves") are one thing, Bogomils and Albigenses/Cathars are another one. The misunderstanding is clarified within the 2 hours during which socio-economic, ethnocultural and geopolitical analysis takes over: the director Labaki is married with two children and keeps us to such "radical **** distinctions
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Production Company
Mooz Films,
Cedrus Invest Bank,
Sunnyland Film,
Doha Film Institute,
KNM Films,
Boo Pictures,
Synchronicity Films,
The Bridge Production,
Louverture Films,
Open City Films,
Les Films des Tournelles,
Clandestino Films,
Ministry of Culture,
The Bertha Foundation
Release Date Dec 14, 2018
Duration 2 h 6 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline "Why are you suing your parents?" "For giving me life."
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
The Lebanese Movie Awards
• 1 Win & 10 Nominations
