Film Review: Capernaum – 8/10

‘I want to make a complaint against my parents...’

Nomadland recently received plenty of plaudits for using unprofessional actors that are basically playing themselves on screen. To my mind, this novelty was half the reason that Chloe Zhao’s movie was so acclaimed. Capernaum takes that concept and runs with it further than Zhao ever did. The result is a touching, poignant work that deserves a bigger audience…

While serving a five year sentence for a violent crime, Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) attempts to sue his abusive parents for neglect. This is revealed in the opening scene of the film in a courtroom in front of a mildly disinterested judge. The rest of Capernaum – roughly translated as ‘chaos’ from Arabic – tells Zain’s story through the use of flashbacks and time slips.

Lebanese director Nadine Labaki trawled the slums, detention centres and juvenile prisons as research for Capernaum, and endeavoured to hire an entirely amateur cast whose lives were vaguely similar to the characters that they depicted. Zain Al Rafeea was a Syrian refugee who had lived a similar life to the one portrayed on screen and this only serves to make the powerful scenes even more emotionally charged. It is an astonishing performance from the newcomer – one that is shot through with humour, confidence and a heart breaking vulnerability.

Capernaum is a shocking and gritty rendering of life in the slums of Beirut, even recalling City of God during its finest moments. A traumatising and brutal experience but one that I would urge everyone to indulge in.