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Capernaum

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Capernaum

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Summary

In Beirut, Zain is a young boy of uncertain age who is in prison for stabbing someone. He is also suing his parents for neglect. Writer/director Nadine Labaki's Cannes Jury prize-winning, Oscar-nominated drama, starring Zain Al Rafeea. In Arabic and Amharic, with English subtitles

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

David Parkinson

Ripped from reality but suffused with compassionate humanity, Nadine Labaki's third feature represents a marked departure from the witty feminism of Caramel (2007) and Where Do We Go Now? (2011). Largely improvised over six months and taking its original title (Capharnaum) from an antiquated word meaning "a shambles", this Oscar-nominated drama exposes the plight facing Lebanon's undocumented children. Labaki adopts an unflinching neorealist attitude to chronicle the problems that beset tweenager Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) after he runs away from home when his parents sell his 11-year-old sister to the Beirut landlord keeping them in grinding poverty. Having fled to the coast, Zain finds temporary respite with an Ethiopian illegal and her toddler son (who is marvellously played by a girl, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole). But events conspire against him and Zain winds up in court suing his parents for having given birth to him. Labaki's direction of her young leads is miraculous, while the handheld cinematography and electrifying editing convey the chaos of the milieu and the grimness of the global crisis that has precipitated it.

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8.4/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameZainZain Al RafeeaRahilYordanos ShiferawYonasBoluwatife Treasure BankoleSouad, the motherKawsar Al HaddadSelim, the fatherFadi Kamel YousefSahar, the sisterHaita "Cedra" IzzamAsproAlaa ChouchniehThe judgeElias KhouryNadineNadine LabakiAssaadNour El Husseini

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Crew

rolenameDirectorNadine Labaki

Details

Theatrical distributor

Picturehouse

Released on

2019-02-22

Languages

Arabic | Amharic

Guidance

Swearing, drug abuse

Available on

DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour

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