2018 ‘کفرناحوم’ Directed by Nadine Labaki
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.
Cafarnaúm, Cafarnaum, 迦百农, Kapernaum, Capharnaüm, Kafarnaum, כפר נחום, Cafarnao - Caos e miracoli, 가버나움, كفرناحوم, Капернаум, Capharnaum, Chaos
Sean Baker: “Look how rough it is for impoverished children in America”
Nadine Labaki: “Hold my beer”
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…
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
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.
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…
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…
EXQUISITELY ACTED & DIRECTED WITH SUCH GRACE, HOW DID THEY ACTUALLY SHOOT 87% OF THESE SCENES?
“Yetişkinlerin beni iyi dinlemesini istiyorum. Çocuklarına bakamayan insanlardan bıktım. Ben dünyaya neden geldim? Küfretsinler, dövsünler, tekmelesinler diye mi? Zincirle, hortumla ya da kemerle dövsünler diye mi? Duyduğum en güzel laf ‘Siktir, orospu çocuğu!’ ve ‘Defol, gözüm görmesin seni.’ oldu. Hayat köpek boku gibi. Ayaklarımdaki ayakkabılardan bile pis. Cehennemde yaşıyorum. Yemek için ölebileceğim bir tavuk gibi pişiyorum. Hayat çok kötü. İyi bir insan olacağımı umuyordum; saygı duyulan, sevilen ama Allah bunu istemiyor. O, paspas olalım istemiş, ayaklar altında çiğnenmek için...”
Light leaks and life in motion. Beautifully crafted. I don't know how on earth a child performance this gold was captured on camera. Wow. Final frame will stick with me.
Life is hard in Lebanon for the majority of the population, and this examination of what one small boy does to survive when his family betray him one too many times, is also a hard watch.
But I was never fully engaged and soon became very weary of the excessive hand-held shaky cam. I'm glad I watched it, but this is not one I would rush to recommend to anyone, hence ...
2.5 Reasons to Grow Up Fast for Capernaum.
Labaki does beautiful work with her nonprofessional cast. Not only a film, but also a learning process.
One of the best child performances I've seen in a while. Raw, beautiful, and humane. This film really touched me.
Zain Al Rafeea is mesmerising from start to finish in a stupidly nuanced performance for someone of their age. My heart was in pieces by the end.
It falls in my favourite category of films where you get told a story without even noticing. One thing happens after another and then you switch on for the last 15 minutes and realise everything you’ve been told has come together.
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Pessimistic worldviews. For when you want to wallow in despair.
It doesn't matter if we all die.
Suggestions welcome.
