This is a review of the movie Caphernaum. I also want to compare it with a 2005 Lebanese movie called Zozo which based on a slightly similar theme. The name of the movie, Caphernaum, is taken from the name of a village in Israel where Jesus is said to have performed most of his miracles. The word Caphernaum simply translated means Naum's Village (Caphar = Village, Naum= Noam). However the village was forgotten and when it was discovered many years later, it was in an absolute state of ruin. Now this movie made by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki alludes to this new meaning of the word Caphernaum, it means when things fall into such a state of disrepair and wretchedness that they can never go back to their earlier state.
The movie is set in present day Lebanon where a 12 year old boy, who has lived in a life of poverty sues his parents for having many kids and failing to love them like they deserve. The child who plays Zain has faced similar struggles in real life, and boy does it show in his work! You have to wonder if this 12 year old is acting or merely reliving his experience. Zain Al Rafea manages to become a child a moment and in the next moment he can be seen struggling with issues of adulthood. His puberty and change in emotions are merely an addition to the other frustrations of life. Despite this depressing sounding ambience, the movie doesn't become pessimistic as Zain's constant struggle with whatever life throws at him keeps us hooked to the plot.
Although Zain seems unattached to most of his family, he is attached to his sister, Sahar. And the only thing that Zain knows is that his sister's menstruation could get her married to a much older man and Zain's solution to this problem is to ask his sister to keep it hidden.
Overall, Zain's life is full of struggles for the basics such as food, clothing and shelter. So it is amazing that what he craves for most is love and attention. His want for a parent is so strong that if he doesn't have a caring parent, he himself becomes a parent to a little baby whose Ethiopian mother, Rahil, has gone missing.
(To people who have said that Zain is too young to have used all the abusive, swear words in the movie, take a walk in your poor neighbourhood and discover the language.)
Now I want to compare this movie with another Lebanese movie made in 2005 called Zozo. This movie also has a 12 year old protagonist but his life is entirely different than that of Zain. Although Zozo is not rich, he is born in a middle class family, he doesn't know the struggles of living on the street. And even though surviving in the civil war that devastated Beirut in 19__ , Zozo still has time to fall in love. With only an elder sibling at home, he has received love and attention from his family. And even after his family dies, after a short struggle he is moved to his grandparents in Sweden. There, his struggle is with identity and race and coming to terms with it. It is not an easy life but still better than what Zain has.
Now in connection with these two stories, there is a hidden untold story. Which is how did the Civil War impact on those who were extremely poor like Zain? Is the family's poor status somehow a result of the Civil War? How did Zain's parents who must have been a young married couple at the time cope with the Civil War? Did they go through a post-war trauma like the baby boomer generation of America? Did that make them keep having kids without a stable source of income? As such, answers to these questions could provide an insight into the parents' side of the Zain story.
Despite this one issue, the movie is still a beautiful documentary that manages to capture the essence of what it means to live in a society where your existence doesn't mean anything to anyone, including your own parents.
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