The captivating and Roller Coaster Story of Capernaum

Hurling the audience through a whirlwind of emotion, is Nadine Labaki’s film Capernaum. This brilliant movie follows a young Beirut boy through his journey from leaving a broken home, to finding a friend in an Ethiopian woman who has a child, to finally living on the streets and winding up in jail. The movie directs the audience to emotions of sadness, hope, and even confusion. The abusive home the boy grows up in can’t help but push him away. The young boy runs away from home and eventually befriends a young Ethiopian mother who is doing her best to support her young son. The mother does not have any legal citizenship papers, and this winds up costing her as she is thrown in jail. This leaves the young boy to care of the toddler himself. He does everything he can to try and keep food in both of their mouths but comes to an ultimate and final decision.

With nothing left, the boy returns home, finds himself in some trouble and goes to jail as well. While in jail, he hatches a plan to sue his parents. How realistic this is in real life I’m not sure, but it helps bring the movie to a close with an emotionally powerful ending.

Possibly the most powerful and touching part of this film involves the actors. The actors were not professionals and some even in a similar situation of being left without a true home. Many filmed were migrants just like the boy and woman in the movie. This has caused some

backlash, as some believe filmmakers crossed the line and took advantage of the unprofessional actors. The details of contracts or pay is not known and can only be assumed. On the other hand, some believe it helped create a stronger realism in the film and filled it with more emotion. It is hard to dispute either sides viewpoint, so it will be left to the audience to from their own opinion about this.

Another popular topic of discussion for the movie Capernaum

by Nadine Labaki is how accurate it is with the real diaspora facing many peoples. The struggles faced are no doubt real, but some who have gone through this personally believe the struggles depicted in the movie

can be a bit of a stretch. This goes without saying that many true stories that are told through cinema can be considered to be stretched at some point or another on the big screen.

Overall, the movie is a brilliant and moving story that portrays the struggle of a young Beirut boy as he leaves his home, which is in disarray, to search for some kind of hope. His future is in his hands and he stops at nothing to make it better than what he would be dealt

with if he stayed.