MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Zain Al Rafeea gives a remarkable performance.
CAPHARNAUM
Forum Theatre, August 18, 4pm
Children fending for themselves have a long history in the cinema. Here, Nadine Labaki’s picaresque story of a foul-mouthed but ferociously positive little survivor on Beirut’s meaner streets recalls both the Italian neo-realists and the more recent hit Slumdog Millionaire.
Zain (Zain Al Rafeea, who was discovered working as a delivery boy) is a reluctant worker in his feckless parents’ business selling opioids into the local prison, where an older son acts as fence; he runs away for good when they sell his beloved younger sister to their landlord as a child bride.
Various adventures lead him to kindly Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), who takes him into her slum home to look after her baby while she works.
When Rahil is arrested, Zain must take sole responsibility – or not – for a helpless infant. Grim as this sounds, Labaki infuses his story with warmth and sunbursts of humour, while guiding her feral young cast in what are truly astonishing performances.
Winner of the Jury Prize in Cannes, Capharnaum’s straightforward narrative of misfortunes was dismissed by some critics as overly simplified and manipulative. It’s a tear-jerker, all right – but then, it’s hard to see how it could remain true to reality and be anything else.
Source: Read Full Article