An old and famous carnival called Joãosinho Trinta said that "the people like luxury, those who like misery are intellectual." It was one of his most remarkable sentences. It is very easy to sit in the privileged chair of an air-conditioned cinema and all the facilities that a privileged life can give and "admire" with the sociologist's air the misery exposed by the Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, and speak with wonders about "Capharnaüm". It is extremely easy to contemplate the long-suffering Zain saga (Zain Al Rafeea), pose as a bar-table left intellectual, and lecture on social injustices and the need to seek a more egalitarian and less cruel society.
These are legitimate interpretations, but I'm going to try to run away from them for the sake of appearing as insensitive and distant as the image of Zain's lawyer in the plot, lived by the director herself, who has no reaction to the speech of the boy's mother in court saying that she would never know what it is to have her life. And she could never bear what she endured. This is one of the many very strong scenes in this movie. In fact, as the lawyer, as much as I could sensitize myself with all the drama, as much as I could empathize, I would never know what it is to live and how to describe what it is to be so on the fringes of a society like Zain and your family.
"Capharnaüm" is a masterpiece with which we rarely see. It is also a film about how we fail as human beings in the most varied aspects. The exploitation of misery, slave labor, violation of the most basic rights, families devastated by poverty and lack of perspective of a better situation, the illegality of immigrant life, arranged marriages in exchange for money, negligent parents with their children. "Capharnaüm" is a rosary of personal tragedies exhibited in 125 minutes of film.
It is almost as if the region remained to this day suffering from the denial of Christ. The name of the film refers to the biblical city that was on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Nearby was the important Via Maris (road to the sea), which linked Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. In the Bible, Capernaum is one of the places where Jesus performed a series of miracles, such as two exorcisms, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law from a disease, and the healing of a paralytic in the well-known passage of the Bible where Jesus said to the man: "Get up and walk." But, according to history, the people of the city also ended up not repenting of their sins and turned away from Jesus, who had foreseen the destruction of the city. From there, Capernaum, which was a center for tax collection and where there was also a Roman military post declined, becoming uninhabited in the fifth century after Christ.
If it is possible to draw a parallel between the Biblical Capernaum and Lebanon drawn by Nadine, it is precisely in the moral misery of the human being who exploits one another, even in the lower strata. The human being who does not repent of his sins and continues reproducing the exploratory and vicious behaviors at every moment.
At the center of the film is the story of the young Zain (lived monstrously by the boy Zain Al Rafeea). The 12-year-old forced to adulthood because of his parents' negligence, was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for stabbing a man who had married his sister, Sahani. The reason for the crime was the death of the 11-year-old girl shortly after her pregnancy.
Older of his many brothers, Zain had been forced to mature strength to help support the family. And it is because he already has an almost adult awareness in the body of a child that the youngster decides to sue his parents for the crime of having given them life. Zain considers that his parents were criminally negligent with the whole family and can no longer have children. The evidence was in his dead sister and himself, a teenager arrested and not even formally registered.
The film alternates scenes of the trial with Zain's journey in the streets of Lebanon. Difficult life, difficulties to eat, lack of hope after losing the sister who had menstruated for the first time recently to a man who just wanted to abuse her...
Until the escape comes and Zain comes across the Ethiopian immigrant Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), who welcomes him. Zain then takes care of his son, Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole), until the day she just does not come back. Illegal, Rahil is caught by the police, leaving Zain alone taking care of Yonas.
It is one of the most dramatic moments of the film the period in which Zain sees himself as a father. It's heart-breaking to see him try and try to do the right thing and turn around like giving to feed the child and take care of it. Everything until the moment when it does not have more forces because the life between those who are at the margin simply can not advance.
We see all this through Zain's eyes. A boy who does not find Hollywood heroes to help him. The closest to it is the old "Cockroach-Man", the "cousin of Spider-Man", which crosses his path. Zain needs to be the hero himself. So young, the boy feels himself carrying a huge burden of existence when all he wanted was to be a good man. And his speech at the end of the film is absolutely touching at the same time that it is very hard.
"Capharnaüm" deserved more than a mere Oscar nomination for foreign film. Maybe it's the best of all those who run for the Oscars. At least Cannes recognized its value by giving it three awards last year. Nadine Labaki has made a hard and brilliant film that deserves to be seen by all.
These are legitimate interpretations, but I'm going to try to run away from them for the sake of appearing as insensitive and distant as the image of Zain's lawyer in the plot, lived by the director herself, who has no reaction to the speech of the boy's mother in court saying that she would never know what it is to have her life. And she could never bear what she endured. This is one of the many very strong scenes in this movie. In fact, as the lawyer, as much as I could sensitize myself with all the drama, as much as I could empathize, I would never know what it is to live and how to describe what it is to be so on the fringes of a society like Zain and your family.
"Capharnaüm" is a masterpiece with which we rarely see. It is also a film about how we fail as human beings in the most varied aspects. The exploitation of misery, slave labor, violation of the most basic rights, families devastated by poverty and lack of perspective of a better situation, the illegality of immigrant life, arranged marriages in exchange for money, negligent parents with their children. "Capharnaüm" is a rosary of personal tragedies exhibited in 125 minutes of film.
It is almost as if the region remained to this day suffering from the denial of Christ. The name of the film refers to the biblical city that was on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Nearby was the important Via Maris (road to the sea), which linked Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. In the Bible, Capernaum is one of the places where Jesus performed a series of miracles, such as two exorcisms, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law from a disease, and the healing of a paralytic in the well-known passage of the Bible where Jesus said to the man: "Get up and walk." But, according to history, the people of the city also ended up not repenting of their sins and turned away from Jesus, who had foreseen the destruction of the city. From there, Capernaum, which was a center for tax collection and where there was also a Roman military post declined, becoming uninhabited in the fifth century after Christ.
If it is possible to draw a parallel between the Biblical Capernaum and Lebanon drawn by Nadine, it is precisely in the moral misery of the human being who exploits one another, even in the lower strata. The human being who does not repent of his sins and continues reproducing the exploratory and vicious behaviors at every moment.
At the center of the film is the story of the young Zain (lived monstrously by the boy Zain Al Rafeea). The 12-year-old forced to adulthood because of his parents' negligence, was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for stabbing a man who had married his sister, Sahani. The reason for the crime was the death of the 11-year-old girl shortly after her pregnancy.
Older of his many brothers, Zain had been forced to mature strength to help support the family. And it is because he already has an almost adult awareness in the body of a child that the youngster decides to sue his parents for the crime of having given them life. Zain considers that his parents were criminally negligent with the whole family and can no longer have children. The evidence was in his dead sister and himself, a teenager arrested and not even formally registered.
The film alternates scenes of the trial with Zain's journey in the streets of Lebanon. Difficult life, difficulties to eat, lack of hope after losing the sister who had menstruated for the first time recently to a man who just wanted to abuse her...
Until the escape comes and Zain comes across the Ethiopian immigrant Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), who welcomes him. Zain then takes care of his son, Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole), until the day she just does not come back. Illegal, Rahil is caught by the police, leaving Zain alone taking care of Yonas.
It is one of the most dramatic moments of the film the period in which Zain sees himself as a father. It's heart-breaking to see him try and try to do the right thing and turn around like giving to feed the child and take care of it. Everything until the moment when it does not have more forces because the life between those who are at the margin simply can not advance.
We see all this through Zain's eyes. A boy who does not find Hollywood heroes to help him. The closest to it is the old "Cockroach-Man", the "cousin of Spider-Man", which crosses his path. Zain needs to be the hero himself. So young, the boy feels himself carrying a huge burden of existence when all he wanted was to be a good man. And his speech at the end of the film is absolutely touching at the same time that it is very hard.
"Capharnaüm" deserved more than a mere Oscar nomination for foreign film. Maybe it's the best of all those who run for the Oscars. At least Cannes recognized its value by giving it three awards last year. Nadine Labaki has made a hard and brilliant film that deserves to be seen by all.
