Capharnaum

Twelve-year-old Zain (the outstanding Zain Al Rafeea) lives with his parents and siblings in a seedy part of Beirut. He does physical labor at a shop owned by a man who plans to marry his younger sister. Every day, he argues with adults and watches sadly as a van takes his peers to school. In the end, the entire situation ends up in court, where Zain is suing his parents for the fact that he was born. Behind the boy's accusations is a drama involving other children just like him: neglected by the system, deprived of a childhood, with no access to education-condemned from birth to an existence in extreme poverty. Nadine Labaki, the director of Caramel, doesn't limit herself to simple observation of this childhood misfortune, nor does she resort to cheap tricks-by telling the story from a child's perspective to play on the emotions of viewers. By watching Zain's everyday life, we involve ourselves in a penetrating social drama. And in following him as he wanders around the city, what we see is a poignant road movie. The boy's friendship with 2-year-old Yonas feels something like a bromance. Capernaum thus not only evokes anger at the injustices of the world, but it also guarantees true tears of emotion.