Capernaum

2018 ‘کفرناحوم’ Directed by Nadine Labaki

"Why are you suing your parents?" "For giving me life."

Zain, a 12-year-old boy scrambling to survive on the streets of Beirut, sues his parents for having brought him into such an unjust world, where being a refugee with no documents means that your rights can easily be denied.

Zain Al Rafeea Yordanos Shifera Boluwatife Treasure Bankole Kawsar Al Haddad Fadi Kamel Yousef Cedra Izzam Alaa Chouchnieh Elias Khoury Nadine Labaki Nour el Husseini Joseph Jimbazian Samira Chalhoub Farah Hasno

Alternative Titles

Capharnaüm, 가버나움, כפר נחום, Cafarnaúm, Cafarnaum, كفرناحوم, Kapernaum, Kafarnaum, Капернаум, 迦百农, Capharnaum, Chaos, Cafarnao - Caos e miracoli

drama

126 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Conal ★★★★ 6

Sean Baker: “Look how rough it is for impoverished children in America”
Nadine Labaki: “Hold my beer”
Review by Forrest Cardamenis ★ 41

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Capernaum is for people who think that the ultimate function of cinema is to make you feel sympathy for fictional people, and that political cinema is cinema that makes you feel sympathy for people who are less fortunate than you. It observes, in a frame story, the tribulations of an approximately 12-year-old boy, Zain, who fails to prevent his parents from marrying off his younger sister, runs away, and manages to fend for himself before returning home. There, he stabs the husband of his younger sister, who died in childbirth in his accent. We hear his tale as he recounts it in court, not as a defendant but as a plaintiff suing his parents for having given birth to him…
Review by Sean Baker 19

Zain Al Rafeea gives one the best child performances I've ever seen. Must go back and watch Nadine Labaki's previous film asap.
Cinematographer Christopher Aoun is quite a talent.
Watched at the Sunset Screening Room
Review by Filipe Furtado ½ 18

An experiment: how many scenes of a kid suffering are needed to make some so-called liberal western audience members to fall for some genuine vile ideas? The pseudo humanist filmmaking is already bad enough, but the core behind is so rotten, it baffles me so many would get behind it.
Review by LeSchroeck ★★★★ 3

Es ist nur ein Film. Es ist nur ein Film. Immer wieder muss ich es mir einreden: Es ist nur ein Film. Begleitet von: Ich kann nicht mehr. Und: Ich will nicht mehr. Es ist ein verdammt schmaler Grat, auf dem Nadine Labakis 3. Spielfilm wandelt. Denn wer will, kann "Capernaum" schon als Elends-Porno abkanzeln. Es gibt hier ein paar direkte Bilder, die mit rührseliger Musik unterlegt werden und/oder einfach kein Ende finden. Die zu emotionalisierend wirken. Wer will, kann aber auch die Wut spüren. Die Wut auf eine Welt, die Geschichten wie diese hervorbringt. Eine Welt, die zu arm, hilflos und überbevölkert ist. Die trotz bitterster Not absurden Hilfs-Vorschriften folgt, willkürlich Einwanderungsgesetze in oder außer Kraft setzt, Menschenhandel toleriert…
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 19

Capernaum was an ancient Israeli city where Jesus performed some of his most famous miracles — where even the most pitiable and destitute of people could be made whole. The word isn’t casually dropped into conversation all that often these days, but it’s still managed to outlive the city to which it was once attached: Colloquially, it can be used to describe a mess so large that it seems impossible to clean.
“Capernaum” is never uttered (or even alluded to) in Nadine Labaki’s new film of the same name, but this instant Cannes sensation — an astonishing work of social-realism that’s diluted (and ultimately defeated) by an array of severe miscalculations — manages to make good on both definitions. On…
Review by sofyan ★★★★½ 2

Life is a big shit. It's not worth more than my shoe.
- Oh my goodness.
- Capernaum is a raw.
- I have no words.
- Ok I cried, Why is this too sad?!
- Heartbreaking and devastating.
- Early-age marriage.
- Children rights.
- Love the storyline.
- Love the scores so much.
- Simple cinematography and I love it.
- Lebanon.
- Zain Al Rafeea is the most outstanding. Best child actor of the year! Or maybe all time. Future Oscar!!!
- I love the ending scene. It was so emotional.
- It really deserves an Oscar Nominee.
- Please check out this immediately.
- Nadine Labaki!!! Thank you so much for making me feel sad.
Review by ayad 3

since i live in lebanon i am always exposed to beggars and i'm always told about the harsh poverty that is just around the corner but seeing it translated to film was immeasurably shocking. its harrowing that i pass by some of these streets almost everyday without knowing what lies beneath it all, without seeing the horrors and crimes committed daily. talking about the plot and what happens in the movie is useless because it is important experiencing everything just how you were intended to, like a slap in the face, a slap that's filled with hatred and unfairness and pure suffering. i have been following nadine labaki for quite a while now and although her previous films (which are…
Review by BeHaind ★★★★½ 5

Da fehlen mir zur Abwechslung mal echt die Worte.
Unbedingt schauen!
Review by iana ★★★★

a heartbreaking, devastating film. i couldn’t even contain my sobs by the end.
Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★ 6

Well, who knew the best actor of the year would be a 1 year-old? Boluwatife Treasure Bankole is amazing as Yonas. Also, the lead child, Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is strong as well.
Watching this, I have now seen all five foreign films nominated for a Golden Globe this year. My favorite is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Never Look Away, but they were all relatively strong.
Vegan alert:
-Zain's mom references the price of meat.
-Meat hanging up when Tigest is looking for an advance.
-There is a fish market and grilled fish.
-Reference to wanting meat rolls.
-Zain says he's dying to eat chicken.
Review by C.J. 9

Capernaum is a perverse form of escapism that made my skin crawl. It is a tacit endorsement of the systems that the film exploits in its storytelling. It implies that, by showing these characters making the most with what they have, it's fine that it can be the most they deserve. It is a test designed for privileged viewers to confirm they still have sympathy so they can continue living their lives without worry, because awareness equals exoneration in the eyes of some. It is a thoroughly rotten film.

Recent reviews

Review by Sean Burdett ½

***0/10***
3/100
Review by dzsamilla ★★★★½

zain egyszeruen fantasztikus. a szinesz es a karakter is. a velemenyem tobbi resze nem turne nyomdafesteket. valoszinuleg nem olyan erzeseket valtott ki belolem a film ami a rendezo holgy celja lett volna, de mindenkepp felkavaro alkotas.
Review by nurii

a painfully honest depiction of the hardships of arabs and refugees alike. a lot of the things shown in the movie may seem outlandish and purely there for the sake of dramatization, but the reality is that unfortunately they're very regular occurrences in the arabic world, (children being sold for marriage etc.)
this movie serves as a display of the fact that until we rid ourselves of dumb, outdated and patriarchal traditions we'll never be free.
Review by renderen945

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

窩只留了三滴淚，可能是小孩太超齡ㄌ，而且我以為他重蹈了原生家庭的覆徹會對現實有多一點理解，而不是把悲劇歸咎於被出生這件事。
最後的圓滿大結局是怎樣，好像透過誇張虛假的法庭對決（法律都可以直接判小孩五年徒刑ㄌ）後所有的事情都可以被解決一樣。
Review by pauflix ★★★★

¿En qué mundo vivimos?
Review by Steve Drums ★★★★

The title is Arabic for "chaos", apparently, and that is a fair description of the hellish, poverty-dominated world that the movie provides a window into. Naturalistic acting and an intriguing story (with useful sub-plots), the film is effective at portraying hardship, heartbreak and hope, eliciting sympathy and sustaining interest throughout.
Review by Willian Nascimento ★★★★½

What's the problem? Capitalism. Just a simple answer, Don't need another words.
Review by Jack_Davy ★★★★½

This kind of snuck up on me - about an hour in I was wondering where it was all going, and half an hour later I was really hooked - it built up quite superbly. It climaxes a bit early though and the end doesn’t really work, but it’s a phenomenal effort corralling such a complex film, and so much of it works so well.
The story of a skinny kid from a Beirut slum who runs away from home when his sister is sold as a child bride to a local thug. He takes up with a refugee and her son, a ray of kindness amid the bleak. This though precipitates an epic struggle for survival which culminates in…
Review by Anderson Garcez ★★★½

Culpados e vítimas
Review by letícia ★★★½

eu gostei tanto desse filme mas nao consigo ignorar a falta de politização dele
Review by aiti ★★★★½

🥺
Review by Rafael Thedim ★★★★★

Hoje em filmes pra passar o resto do dia chorando: Capernaum.