Capernaum (2018)

“Capernaum” (2018, Lebanon, drama, 123m, R)

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” (“Chaos”) tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a 12-year-old Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the “crime” of giving him life. 

The gutsy streetwise child flees his negligent parents, survives through his wits on the streets, takes care of an Ethiopian refugee and her baby son, is jailed for a violent crime, and finally seeks justice in a courtroom. 

The was made with a cast of non-professionals playing characters whose lives closely parallel their own. When the non-actors’s instincts diverged from the written script, Labaki adapted the screenplay to follow them. 

Was nominated for a best foreign film Oscar and Golden Globe.