“Capernaum” Analysis and Review: Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” Highlights One of the Major Global Issues – Child Neglect

Nadine Labaki’s heartwarming film Capernaum, which means chaos, points out the sufferings and agonies of destitute and refugee children in the present day’s Lebanon. The injustice to the children is happening not only in Lebanon but all over the world. Their parents bring them to this world but without shouldering any responsibility. Their lives do not necessarily hold any value. The filmmaker has opened the eyes of the audience to know and feel the plight of those children in the modern world. Nothing in this world can be as painful as seeing a child suing his own parents for giving him birth. 

Capernaum is a story of neglected children who are always at the receiving end. The film starts with the protagonist Zain El Hajj (Zain Al Rafeea) locked in the Roumieh jail. His crime is unknown and he is about to be presented before the court. He has legally sued his parents for bringing him to this world. He regrets his existence in this world and wants the parents who cannot rear their children properly to stop having any kid at all. The story then flashes back to his past life.

Zain lives with his parents Selim and Souad and seven siblings in the slum areas of Beirut, Lebanon. His parents are economically very weak and not able to take care of the family properly. So, the children including Zain make both ends meet by earning money illegally. Zain sells the tramadols to drug dealers and makes some money. He hides the period stains of his sister Sahar so that his parents do not consider her adult and marry her off. Ultimately, he is unable to protect her, and Sahar gets married to the local businessman and their landlord Assad. Zain gets devastated and leaves home. He meets a cleaner Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) in an amusement park and she allows him to stay with her in exchange for babysitting her son Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole).

Rahil’s forged documents are about to expire and she contacts Aspro, who illegally forges the documents of the refugees illegally staying in Beirut. Aspro agrees to arrange the forged documents again only in exchange for Yonas. Rahil refuses and her documents subsequently expire. She gets arrested by the Lebanese authorities. Zain worries as she does not return home. In her absence, he takes care of Yonas claiming him as his own brother. Aspro agrees to send him to Sweden in exchange for Yonas, to which he reluctantly agrees. Aspro asks for his identity document and Zain visits home only to find out that his parents do not have any. They disown him and kick him out. Before leaving, they inform him that Sahar had passed away. Zain gets furious, goes to Assad’s place, and stabs him. While serving his five years prison sentence, he gets to know that his mother is pregnant again and his parents have decided to name the baby Sahar. Zain calls for a press conference and demands the parents who are unable to take care of their children to stop having babies.

Capernaum highlights the sufferings of children in the modern world. Children are the backbone and the future of society. So, if they are not taken care of properly, a brighter future can not be secured. This issue is not confined in Lebanon rather very much visible all over the world. Child labor, child abuse, malnutrition, poverty, lack of education, early marriage are some of the brutal problems faced by children even in the 21st century. The situation is so horrible that the children even get involved in illegal activities like drug smuggling. Their future is destroyed at a very early stage of life. Even though the entire world more or less faces this problem, these mostly exist in third world countries. Children are treated much like a commodity. The plight does not end here. Many times, children are even sold to child traffickers. The basic necessities of the children cannot be denied at any cost in any corner of the world. Children should be treated with love, care, and affection. Education, safety, and health benefits must be ensured for all the children in the world. Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum showcases the brutal reality. No way the world can deny this.  

Nadine Labaki captures and raises a universal issue through Capernaum. Even though the film is fiction, she directs it in Cinéma vérité style. She mostly follows the characters and does not push instructions. The camera waits and observes the daily life and plight of the characters. The filmmaker shot 520 hours of footage over six months of the shooting schedule. Labaki reached as far as possible to make this film. The cast includes non-professional actors and a detailed script was not provided to them during the shooting. All the actors did a phenomenal job and brought reality onto the screen. Zain Al Rafeea himself is a Syrian refugee and portrays the character of Zain El Hajj with much sensitivity and emotions. It is impossible to make out that he is not a professional actor. His eyes and body language express the agonies the character is going through. Labaki’s direction is so credible that she is able to make even a child act. Boluwatife Treasure Bankole plays the character of Yonas and is able to communicate and convey the emotions on screen.

Yordanos Shiferaw is an Ethiopian refugee and she did not have legal citizenship papers and was arrested during the shooting. She is brilliant in portraying Rahil throughout the film and her scenes always look original as if those are happening in front of our eyes. Special mention is mandatory for Khaled Moujanar. He is not only the composer but also the producer of the film. When Labaki was struggling to arrange the finances, he came forward and agreed to mortgage the house where both Labaki and her husband Moujanar reside. His subtle background score does justice to the theme of the film. Christopher Aoun’s cinematography is brilliant and he is able to capture the essence of the film through his camera mostly in documentary style but without diverting from the storyline. Shaping up 520 hours of footage to a two hours film is never an easy job. Editors Konstantin Bock and Laure Gardette did a phenomenal job. Capernaum was selected in competition for the Palme d’Or and won Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, and garnered widespread critical acclaim over time across the world.