Screening on 25/10/19
Lebanon 2018
Dir: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shifera, Alaa Chouchnieh
Cert 15
126 mins
A 12-year-old boy, embittered by his life of extreme poverty, languishes in a Beirut jail. With the support of a crusading TV channel he brings a lawsuit against his parents, suing them for having brought him into the world. In flashbacks we witness episodes from the boy’s life that have culminated in his imprisonment. He is Zain, a slum child of Beirut, street-wise beyond his years, whose childhood has been effectively stolen from him, forced by his parents into a sordid life of petty crime. Eventually, sickened by the fate of his 11-year-old sister, sold as a child bride, he runs away from home to live on the streets. There he befriends Rahil, an illegal immigrant with a baby, both preyed on by people traffickers. With stand-out performances from a largely non-professional cast, Capernaum has garnered prizes world-wide, including the Jury Prize at Cannes 2018.
Download the full show notes here
Reaction Scores (click to see a larger image)
