A worthy Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum remarkably sustains hope and investment within bleak circumstances for 2 1/2 hours.
Propelled by a narrative true to its titular synonym for “chaos,” the Lebanese export also features one of cinema’s all-time great child performances — truly! — by wholly naturalistic, real-life Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeea as a preteen named, well, Zain.
Fed up with his parents’ mishandling of his beloved sister’s future, Zain raises the film’s already high tension when he runs away to Beirut, links up with undocumented Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and scrapes out a meager and, in turn, breathless existence with her and her young son Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole).
Framed by an intriguing court case pitting Zain — with Labaki as his crusading attorney — against his mother and father, Capernaum keeps viewers guessing in regards to chronology and its characters’ fates and wrings out a wealth of humanity in the process.
Starts Feb. 22 at Grail Moviehouse
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.