Capernaum is a Lebanese film in the Arabic language from director Nadine Labaki and was one of five films nominated for Best Foreign Language film at this year’s Oscars.
It’s a sad and often heartbreaking, yet also hopeful movie about a 12-year-old boy who sues his parents for giving birth to him. They live in poverty in the city of Beirut, located in the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon. Nothing is sugar-coated as Capernaum is realistic, emotional and never cheesy or overdramatic. Labaki’s film deals with social issues like refugees, but avoids being preachy or manipulative.
The boy’s parents are abusive, but are shown as real human beings instead of cartoonishly evil villains. The film could certainly be seen as depressing and it’s far from a comedy, but it still has quite a few moments of humor. These different tones are deftly managed and don’t feel jarring.
The protagonist Zain, like most of the cast, was not a professional actor before this, which makes his excellent performance even more impressive. The actor, whose name is also Zain was a Syrian refugee who is now settled in Norway. The other casts member similarly have real-life circumstances similar to their characters, which certainly lends an air of authenticity as well as blurring the line between fiction and reality.
I also have to mention the incredibly adorable baby who is given tons of screentime and a crucial role, something you don’t often see. The filmmakers did a great job of getting realistic reactions out of the 18-month old, which I’d imagine is incredibly difficult.
The story is told in a somewhat nonlinear fashion and the courtroom scenes serve as an effective framing device. Capernaum is paced well as it moves along quickly and has no boring parts.
Shot on an Arri Alexa, the cinematography is solid and often handheld and shot from near Zain’s perspective. Not much of it particularly stood out to me, other than the gorgeous top-down drone shots of the city.
Lebanon doesn’t have much of a film industry so it’s nice to see them get nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar two years in a row. I still haven’t seen Germany’s Never Look Away, but of the other nominees, this has the most traditional and accessible narrative. It’s definitely not on the level of Roma, but I’d say it’s roughly comparable in terms of quality to Shoplifters or Cold War.
Critics are quite happy with Capernaum and it has an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
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