Capernaum. (15.)
Directed by Nadine Labaki.
Starring Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawthar Al Hadd and Fadi Kamel Youssef. Subtitled. 123 mins.
Whenever Ken Loach takes one of his films to Cannes the Daily Mail will habitually complain about him running down this country. The Lebanese film Capernaum - currently fully occupied being one of the nominated films beaten by Roma in the Best Foreign language film category of any awards ceremony - starts with 12-year-old Zain, in prison for a violent crime, appearing in court trying to sue his parents for being born. The rest of the film is one long flashback to his story of deprivation in the extensive slums of Beirut, a violent rat eat rat hellhole full of predators, perverts and prey. I don't know what the Lebanese equivalent of the Daily Mail is, but they must be up in arms at this.
Labaki's third feature is a textbook piece of neo-drearism. Most of the actors are non-professionals performing roles similar to their own life experiences; it was shot documentary style on location and it features a beguiling performance by a kid in the lead role. Zain Al Rafeea is a Syrian refugee who's been in Lebanon for eight years. His character only seems to have two settings: close to tears or foul-mouthed abusiveness, but his expressive face makes his characterisation painfully honest. The court case framing device is contrived, all a bit Slumdog, but the desperate struggles for existence shown in the film could move a stone.
It is though a draining watch. Usually, such films are supposed to show us our shared humanity, that we are all the same. This though is not a film that is going to generate much empathy. Zain condemns his parents for giving birth to him, his father curses the day he met his mother, his mother curse Zain for being a feisty, disobedient little bugger but near the end, Spoiler, she announces she is going to have another child. Rarely has an onscreen pregnancy revelation been greeted with such utter disdain. The film includes several overhead shots of the sprawling expanse of the slums, teeming with people all trying to survive in squalid conditions. What the film makes you feel is a contempt for human reproduction, for societies spewing out more and more people into lives of absolute misery.
Directed by Nadine Labaki.
Starring Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawthar Al Hadd and Fadi Kamel Youssef. Subtitled. 123 mins.
Whenever Ken Loach takes one of his films to Cannes the Daily Mail will habitually complain about him running down this country. The Lebanese film Capernaum - currently fully occupied being one of the nominated films beaten by Roma in the Best Foreign language film category of any awards ceremony - starts with 12-year-old Zain, in prison for a violent crime, appearing in court trying to sue his parents for being born. The rest of the film is one long flashback to his story of deprivation in the extensive slums of Beirut, a violent rat eat rat hellhole full of predators, perverts and prey. I don't know what the Lebanese equivalent of the Daily Mail is, but they must be up in arms at this.
Labaki's third feature is a textbook piece of neo-drearism. Most of the actors are non-professionals performing roles similar to their own life experiences; it was shot documentary style on location and it features a beguiling performance by a kid in the lead role. Zain Al Rafeea is a Syrian refugee who's been in Lebanon for eight years. His character only seems to have two settings: close to tears or foul-mouthed abusiveness, but his expressive face makes his characterisation painfully honest. The court case framing device is contrived, all a bit Slumdog, but the desperate struggles for existence shown in the film could move a stone.
It is though a draining watch. Usually, such films are supposed to show us our shared humanity, that we are all the same. This though is not a film that is going to generate much empathy. Zain condemns his parents for giving birth to him, his father curses the day he met his mother, his mother curse Zain for being a feisty, disobedient little bugger but near the end, Spoiler, she announces she is going to have another child. Rarely has an onscreen pregnancy revelation been greeted with such utter disdain. The film includes several overhead shots of the sprawling expanse of the slums, teeming with people all trying to survive in squalid conditions. What the film makes you feel is a contempt for human reproduction, for societies spewing out more and more people into lives of absolute misery.
