I acquired a copy of "Capharnaüm" many months ago in a beautiful Spanish edition on DVD, but, for unknown reasons, I did not watch it, even knowing that its creator, Lebanese director and actress Nadine Labaki makes films about interesting topics. I like her two previous features, «Caramel» and «And Now Where Are we Going?»
In her third film, Labaki tells from a brave point of view, without fear of showing exacerbated emotions, the very dramatic story of Zain, a 12-year-old (?) boy, arrested and deprived of liberty, who ends up taking his parents to court for bringing him into the world. Little Zain doesn't even know his age because his parents never bothered to register him, they didn't educate him and used him as a slave.
«Capharnaüm» is more audacious than the previous Labaki films, by daring to describe a real situation (that of children victims of integral abuse) with an unlikely dramaturgical formula. She describes a violent and dehumanized situation, in a non-dramatic way to audiences inclined to melodramas in the soap opera style.
That is to say: what the film describes is real and plausible, but the dialogues and attitudes of the characters are more akin to the perspective of highbrow literature and discourse, than to the way "the people" usually express, especially Zain, who in court exposes his case with an elegant speech that an illiterate kid would never give.
Perhaps that is why the best character of all are an Ethiopian woman called Rahil, with limited knowledge of Arabic, and her son Yonas, the baby who has no lines. He only has to be himself, and turns into a beautiful and endearing character. All this said «Capharnaüm» deserves two hours of your free time. See it.
In her third film, Labaki tells from a brave point of view, without fear of showing exacerbated emotions, the very dramatic story of Zain, a 12-year-old (?) boy, arrested and deprived of liberty, who ends up taking his parents to court for bringing him into the world. Little Zain doesn't even know his age because his parents never bothered to register him, they didn't educate him and used him as a slave.
«Capharnaüm» is more audacious than the previous Labaki films, by daring to describe a real situation (that of children victims of integral abuse) with an unlikely dramaturgical formula. She describes a violent and dehumanized situation, in a non-dramatic way to audiences inclined to melodramas in the soap opera style.
That is to say: what the film describes is real and plausible, but the dialogues and attitudes of the characters are more akin to the perspective of highbrow literature and discourse, than to the way "the people" usually express, especially Zain, who in court exposes his case with an elegant speech that an illiterate kid would never give.
Perhaps that is why the best character of all are an Ethiopian woman called Rahil, with limited knowledge of Arabic, and her son Yonas, the baby who has no lines. He only has to be himself, and turns into a beautiful and endearing character. All this said «Capharnaüm» deserves two hours of your free time. See it.