CAPERNAUM – Review

Zain Al Rafeea as Zain. Photo by Christopher Aoun, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

The title of Lebanese drama CAPERNAUM can be translated as “chaos,” a word that describes the life of young boy named Zain struggling to live on the bottom of society in modern Lebanon Zain (Zain Al Rafea), who is perhaps 12-years-old, is a penniless boy being held in a Lebanese jail for attacking a man but we first meet him in court for another reason: he is suing his parents for having been born. We are uncertain about Zain’s age, because he is uncertain about his age. Among his complaints about his self-centered parents is that they did not bother to register his birth, which means he has no birth certificate, no papers, and therefore does not officially exist. As a non-person, he is not entitled to even the most basic of social services, no matter how poor he is. He is excluded from even the meager help given refugees from Syria, putting him in the same situation as other undocumented immigrants even though he was born there.

This is one of several social criticisms director Nadine Labaki aims at Lebanese society in CAPERNAUM. The film won the Cannes Jury Prize and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. It has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The social commentary matters but what really makes this film compelling to watch is the remarkable performance by the child playing the one at the center of it. Wise-cracking, clever Zain takes us on a heartbreaking tour of life in the underclass of Lebanon, where people live in nightmarish conditions of extreme poverty on the edge of society. The drama brings to mind Dickens’ London, for although Zain is not an orphan, he pretty much could be for all the care his exploitative parents give him or his many siblings. Zain is both tough and wise beyond his years but it is his enormous heart and kindness to even more helpless victims that surprises and moves us.

Rather than going to school, Zain and his siblings are sent off daily by their parents, mother Souad (Kawthar Al Haddad) and father Selim (Fadi Kamel Youssef) to make money, either by helping shopkeepers or just hustling home-made fruit drinks on the street. There is no school, and also no kind words, no toys, no beds – only life as an endless battle just to avoid being evicted from their crowded, leaky apartment. With Zain’s favorite sister Sahar (Cedra Izam) teetering on puberty, his parents start planning to sell her into marriage, throwing Zain into panicked action to save her.

Zain is propelled on a journey that brings him in contact with other people struggling on the harsh edge of life in Lebanon. Although Zain’s hard life has made him old beyond his years, at other moments, he is still a child, a boy who wants to play, watch cartoons, and is drawn to an amusement park. Yet even in his most boyish moments, Zain keeps a practical eye out for things he can re-use or sell for the next meal.

Director Nadine Labaki chose to cast mostly non-actors whose lives were close to these characters for her searing drama. There are striking parallels to both SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and Charles Dickens in this grim but gripping drama, from the focus on innocent children trapped in appalling poverty, to indifferent parents, to a cast of nefarious characters, harsh officials, and yet sprinkled with unexpected moments of kindness from strangers.

While CAPERNAUM can be preachy and the device of this penniless boy suing his parents seems far-fetched and even contrived, the film is rescued by a riveting performance by Zain Al Rafea as Zain. Al Rafea has a remarkable, even fiery screen presence, breaking our hearts while impressing us with his fierce will to live, his resourcefulness, and his unexpected inherent kindness.

The film spotlights the hidden world in Lebanon, of people caught in this legal limbo, where having been born in a place does not automatically confer citizenship, putting generations of people born in this shadowy state in the same predicament as illegal immigrants.

While the story type is familiar, we remain caught up in it, not knowing what will happen next. Most astonishing is the heartbreaking performance by Zain Al Rafea as the boy Zain, part Oliver Twist, part Artful Dodger, as he struggles to live amid the chaos, first battling to protect his favorite sister from his selfish parents, and then to care for a toddler whose Ethiopian mother befriends him. Although we see other children play in the middle of this squalor and chaos, Zain is always hustling, and has very few moments of childhood. Still, at one touching moment, he spots an amusement park from a bus, and suddenly gets off, as if hoping to just live there.

Despite his appalling circumstances, Zain will touch your heart through his sheer charm, his resourceful determination and his innate human decency. CAPERNAUM is not an easy film to watch nor a subtle film, but it is powerful, nail-you-to-your-seat human drama.

CAPERNAUM, in Arabic with English subtitles, opens Friday, Feb. 1, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars