Capernaum (film)
Capernaum (Arabic: كفرناحوم, romanized: Cafarnaüm) is a 2018 Lebanese drama film directed by Nadine Labaki and produced by Khaled Mouzanar.Capernaum is told in flashback format, focusing on Zain's life, including his encounter with an Ethiopian immigrant Rahil and her infant son Yonas, and leading up to his attempt to sue his parents for child neglect.Capernaum received critical acclaim, with particular praise given to Labaki's direction, Al Rafeea's performance and the film's "documentary-like realism".Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities process a group of migrant workers, including a young Ethiopian woman named Rahil.He uses forged prescriptions to purchase tramadol pills from multiple pharmacies, which they crush into powder and soak them into clothes, which his brother sells to drug addicts in prison.One morning, Zain helps his 11-year-old sister Sahar to hide the evidence of her first period, fearing she will be married to Assad if her parents discover that she can now become pregnant.Screenwriter and director Nadine Labaki described the conception of the film: At the end of the day, ... children are really paying a very high price for our conflicts, and our wars, and our systems, and our stupid decisions, and governments.[28] Capernaum became a sleeper hit in China, with the help of strong word-of-mouth on Chinese social media (including platforms such as Douban and TikTok).The website's critics consensus reads, "Capernaum hits hard, but rewards viewers with a smart, compassionate, and ultimately stirring picture of lives in the balance.A. O. Scott of The New York Times ranked it as the ninth greatest film of 2018, writing "naturalism meets melodrama in this harrowing, hectic tale of a lost boy’s adventures in the slums and shantytowns of Beirut...Labaki refuses to lose sight of the exuberance, grit and humor that people hold onto even in moments of the greatest desperation."[11] Variety's Jay Weissberg judged Capernaum to represent a substantial improvement in Labaki's direction, bringing "intelligence and heart" to its issue.Club, A.A. Dowd called the film a "sadness pile that confuses nonstop hardship for drama, begging for our tears at every moment".[39] IndieWire critic David Ehrlich also wrote a mixed review, calling it "an astonishing work of social-realism that's diluted (and ultimately defeated) by an array of severe miscalculations".[12] ^ Capernaum was a village in the Galilee region in the territory of the State of Israel; it was condemned by Jesus as one of the three settlements that refused to repent for its sins even after he performed miracles of healing there; in French, a capharnaüm is a place with a disorderly accumulation of objects; it is translated onscreen in this film as "Chaos.
ArabicNadine LabakiKhaled MouzanarZain Al RafeeaChristopher AounLaure GardetteSony Pictures ClassicsCannesLevantine ArabicromanizedLebanesedrama filmGeorges KhabbazSyrian refugeeBeirutflashbackchild neglect2018 Cannes Film FestivalPalme d'OrJury PrizeWhere Do We Go Now?The New York TimesManohla DargisA. O. ScottAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film91st Academy AwardsMiddle Eastern filmsleeper hitRoumieh Prisoncivil actionmigrant workersprescriptionstramadolperiodLuna ParkRas Beirutknock-offSpider-ManFerris wheelSwedenamusement parkmortgageLabakirealistrushesArabic filmDoubanTikTokRotten TomatoesMetacriticVarietyThe Hollywood ReportermelodramaVulture.compro-choiceThe A.V. ClubIndieWiresocial-realismBest Foreign Language FilmAcademy Awards24 February 2019LebanonAlliance of Women Film JournalistsBest Woman DirectorAsia Pacific Screen Awards29 November 2018Best DirectingBest ActorBritish Academy Film Awards10 February 2019Best Film Not in the English LanguageBritish Independent Film Awards2 December 2018Best International Independent FilmCalgary International Film FestivalCannes Film Festival8–19 May 2018Prize of the Ecumenical JuryCésar Award22 February 2019Best Foreign FilmChicago Film Critics Association8 December 2018Critics' Choice Movie Awards13 January 2019Film Fest GentGlobes de Cristal AwardsGolden Globes6 January 2019Grande Prêmio do Cinema BrasileiroInternational Antalya Film FestivalInternational Film Festival RotterdamLeeds International Film FestivalMelbourne International Film FestivalMiami International Film FestivalMill Valley Film FestivalNorwegian International Film FestivalSan Diego Film Critics Society10 December 2018San Sebastián International Film FestivalSão Paulo International Film FestivalSarajevo Film FestivalSt. Louis Film Critics AssociationSt. Louis International Film FestivalStockholm International Film Festival7–18 November 2018Vilnius International Film FestivalWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association3 December 2018World Soundtrack AwardsList of submissions to the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language FilmList of Lebanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmCapernaumGalileeState of IsraelBritish Board of Film ClassificationThe NumbersSF GateDeadline HollywoodLos Angeles TimesThe WrapBBC NewsPublic Radio InternationalThe Arab American NewsDeadlineBox Office Mojo