Capernaum (2018)

While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.

Director:

Nadine Labaki

Writers:

Nadine Labaki (screenplay), Jihad Hojeily (screenplay)

Stars:

Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole

Top Rated Movies #77 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 35 wins & 51 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Zain Al Rafeea	...	Zain
Yordanos Shiferaw	...	Rahil
Boluwatife Treasure Bankole	...	Yonas
Kawsar Al Haddad	...	Souad
Fadi Yousef	...	Selim (as Fadi Kamel Yousef)
Cedra Izzam	...	Sahar, the Sister
Alaa Chouchnieh	...	Aspro
Elias Khoury	...	The Judge
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mohammad Al Abdallah	...	Salah
Mohamad Abdellatif	...	Street Kid
Abdo Abdo	...	Notary
Hampig Abraham	...	Street Kid
Jamil Ahmad	...	Street Kid
Mohamad Akkar	...	Kid
Elias Akobegia	...	Employer Snack Falafel

Storyline

Capernaüm ("Chaos") tells the story of Zain (Zain al-Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the "crime" of giving him life. The film follows Zain as he journeys from gutsy, streetwise child to hardened 12-year-old "adult" fleeing his negligent parents, surviving through his wits on the streets, where he meets Ethiopian migrant worker Rahil, who provides him with shelter and food, as Zain takes care of her baby son Yonas in return. Zain later gets jailed for committing a violent crime, and finally seeks justice in a courtroom.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | baby | poverty | breast feeding | boy | 

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Taglines:

"Why are you suing your parents?" "For giving me life."

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some drug material

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sony Pictures Classics, which had previously distributed Labaki's Where Do We Go Now?, bought North American and Latin American distribution rights for the film, while Wild Bunch retained the international rights.

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Goofs

At about 1hr 32mins, Zain ties Yonas's leg to the shoe stand to prevent him from following or wandering into busy traffic, but he tied the right leg in the initial scene and then after a cut back to that scene seconds later he is now tied by his left leg.

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Quotes

Zain: Fuck this shitty country!

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Connections

Featured in The 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards 2019 (2019)

User Reviews

Very powerful movie !

This movie shows a lot of issues that we can find in Lebanon but also in a lot of other countries , it raises awareness of how bad life can get specially to young children . I hope that after watching this movie every single one of us will start to act in order to make this world a better place . Nadine Labaki did an amazing job because she showed the truth in a strong and realistic way . I also want to add that the kid is very talented he played his caracter in such a powerful way we could see pain in his eyes and it touched our heart and soul ! I recommend this movie it's a roller coaster of emotions !!

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Lebanon USA France Cyprus Qatar UK

Language:

Arabic Amharic

Release Date:

20 September 2018 (Lebanon)

Also Known As:

Chaos

Filming Locations:

Beirut, Lebanon

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,988, 16 December 2018

Gross USA:

$1,661,096

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$64,417,003

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mooz Films, Cedrus Invest Bank, Sunnyland Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1