"I don't know why I was born, if no one will love me or say one good thing to me for the rest of my life, and I have never been kissed before bed by anyone"
Watching movies for me is a short way to read a story. Capernaum (2018) is a film from Lebanon by Nadine Labaki which was released in September 2018. A film about the terrible reality of the lives of children on the streets. The world of conflict and tragedy is seen from the child's perspective. Conditions of extreme poverty among children, and neglect of those around them. Capernaum, according to Labaki, was inspired by the refugee crisis and economic crisis that occurred in Lebanon and even the world, the negligence of parents who could only give birth without being responsible to their children and let them live in cruel street life. Created based on field studies, research over three years and surrounds places where poverty and school dropouts live. The events that really happened, the chaotic social life of the lower class. Children live on the streets, making money, or just spend the rest of their lives unsure. Parents don't have enough money to send them to school, let alone just feed them.
Capernaum is played by non-professional players who are recruited on the streets, playing a role similar to their own life Zain Al Rafeea (Zain), Yordanos Shiferaw (Rahil), Boluwatife Treasure Bankole (Yonas), Haita Izzam (Sahar), Nadine Labaki (Zain's Lawyer), etc. The script for the film was written by Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Keserwany, Khaled Mouzanar. Produced by Mooz Films, Cedrus Invest Bank, and Sunnyland Film. And distributed by Sony Pictures Classic. This 126-minute film uses Arabic and Amhar.
The presence of non-professional actors in this film gives another interesting touch, strong characters are not much different from their real life characters, this is like they are playing themselves, attracting a lot of empathy and of course bringing sensitivity to the audience of this film, there is pain, angry in the heart that can't be expressed in words that this is the reality around us.
Capernaum won many awards including Best Motion Pictures for the Foreign Language category film at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards, Grand Jury at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Picture at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Capernaum has also been screened at the Toronto International, London, Zurich and Hamptons film festivals. The IMDb Capernaum received a rating of 8/10, and at Rotten Tomatoes it received an Audience score of 92%.
Synopsis
The scene opens with a skinny 12 year old boy, Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) in the courtroom. With a wounded look, he boldly told the judge that "I want to sue my parents, because I was born". That day was not Zain's first trial, because at that time he was a prosecutor not a defendant.
Zain lives in a very poor state with his parents and many siblings. living squeezed in a shabby flat that is unfit for habitation. His mother and father consider children to be both a gift and a necessity. Not having children is a disgrace. They continue to reproduce even at the worst of times only able to provide their children with water and sugar to consume. They also told Zain to lie faking prescriptions so he could buy drugs at pharmacies to sell illegally. As the eldest brother, Zain is also responsible for helping with family needs. He works in a grocery store near his home and sometimes sells food on the street with his siblings.
One time he realized that his younger sister, Sahar, had reached puberty. Sahar got her first menstruation. Zain is afraid that his younger sibling will be sold by his parents. He then washed Sahar's underwear and ordered his younger sister to wear his clothes instead of sanitary napkins. Zain was also willing to steal sanitary napkins from the shop for his younger sister to use.
Having failed to save his younger sister, Sahar, from an early marriage forced by their parents to the shop owner, Zain feels disappointed and runs away from home, living stranded on the streets. While on the run, Zain meets a migrant worker from Ethiopia named Rahil who provides him with shelter and food. Instead, Zain takes care of Rahil's son, Yonas, a 1 year old toddler.
Rahil, as an illegal worker, lives under the shadow of deportation and is afraid of losing her baby. She is trying to get a card to become a legal worker. She is collecting money that cannot be fulfilled to pay the cost of obtaining a resident card to a broker. Until one day, Rahil was caught by the police as an illegal worker and eventually had to be jailed. Zain, who was waiting for Rahil to come home from work, did not come for days. In the slum house where they live, they are just starting to run out of food, especially when faced with how to take care of a 1 year old toddler who is still breastfeeding his mother. Zain was forced to steal the milk of a neighbor's toddler to give to Yonas, but Yonas didn't want to drink it and kept crying. Finally, Zain decides to leave the house with Yonas to look for Rahil. Zain has to go back out on the road, take the baby - and be faced with some dire choices.
Zain made a cart to carry Yonas, from a skateboard that he stole from a neighbor's son, on top of which he placed a pot which he tied with a rope to hold Yonas. Yonas, who was crying because he was hungry, made Zain think about how to provide food for Yonas. Zain works to sell drugs illegally like he did in the past, until finally he had to be beaten up by people who bought his illegal drug mix. Zain must survive with Yonas in the absence of Rahil, with full responsibility and compassion, Zain is able to go through difficult days with Yonas even with tough and heartbreaking struggles.
Until one day he met a Syrian refugee child who told him about the country of asylum and how he could go there. From there, Zain finally came to someone who could take care of his going to the asylum country, which was none other than that the same person Rahil wanted to take care of the population documents. The person knows about Yonas and he offers Zain to exchange Yonas with Zain's going to the country of asylum. At first, Zain didn't want to, but after being persuaded that Yonas would get better parents and live comfortably instead of being stranded with Zain, Zain finally handed Yonas over to that person. The person asks Zain to bring the papers needed. Zain returns to his parents' house to get his birth documents. But the reality is different.
Zain was later arrested for committing a crime, namely stabbing Sahar's husband. Zain is furious with anger over Sahar's death due to being pregnant at a young age. In front of the judge he refused to mention that what he had killed was a human. For him what he stabbed was a dog. In the end, Zain instead sought justice in court by suing his parents for "crimes" for negligent parental responsibility, only giving birth to a world full of pain and suffering.
Trailer
There is a lot of sad dialogue in this film. When Zain's mother happily greets her nephews in prison, when she says God's words for conditions that are not really proper, also when she drags her child when she doesn't want to be sold, even the most irritating thing is when she visits Zain in prison and says "if Zain is angry because when Sahar died, now there will be a substitute for Sahar, showing that in her tummy a beautiful baby will be born. His father did the same. Shamelessly, instead of defending himself with words, his son should be the backbone of the family, not embarrassed by stabbing people.
Capernaum (2018) is a neat work that will open our eyes to the dark lives of children amid adult conflicts. Where a child does not have his basic rights, to close their eyes and sleep well.[]
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