Capernaum

Actress-turned-director Nadine Labaki’s film explores the plight of refugees, children, and the impoverished in the slums of contemporary Lebanon. Capernaum opens with Zain (real-life Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeea)—a smart, streetwise child of 12 serving a five-year sentence for assault—in court. His story rolls out in flashback: living in an overcrowded apartment with countless siblings, spending his days hustling in the streets, and running off after his parents essentially sell off his 11-year-old sister as a child bride for their adult landlord. Zain becomes a doting older brother to the infant son of an Ethiopian immigrant woman who takes him in and he reluctantly returns home after she is arrested, only to learn of a family tragedy. It’s a devastating, often brutal film about the exploitation of children, migrants, and refugees seen through the eyes and experiences of a young boy who is doing all he can to survive in a predatory world. Al Rafeea, a non-actor discovered on the streets of Beirut, convincingly communicates affection, anger, outrage, courage, fear, and swagger in a moving performance, and Labaki gives the film a rough, immediate realism by shooting on location. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language film, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (13 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a filmmaker commentary and a Q&A with director Nadine Labaki, star Zain Al Rafeea, and composer Khaled Mouzanar (22 min.). Bottom line: a solid extras package for this powerful Oscar-nominated drama.] (S. Axmaker)