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Department of Visual Communication

Faculty of Science and Humanities
SRM Institute of Science and Technology
NME – 2020
FILM APPRECIATION

Name Karthik Raja

Register Number RA1932202010013
Department M.COM- 2nd year

CAPHARNAUM
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FILM INFORMATION CAST &CREW

Original Title & English Title

“Capharnaum”
Language: Lebanese
Initial Release: Sept, 2018 at Lebanon

Main Cast

Actor / Actress Role

Zain Al Rafeea Zain El Haij
Yordonas Shiferaw Rahil
Boluwatife Bankole Yonas
Kawthar Al Haddad Zain’s mother
Fadi Kamel Youssef Zain’s father
Alaa Chouchnieh Apro
Farah Hasno Maysoun

Director
Nadine Labaki

Produced by
Khaled Mouzanar

Composer (Music Score)

Khaled Mouzanar

Cinematographer
Christopher Aoun

Editor
Konstantin Bock

Genre: Drama

SYNOPSIS

Caphernaum is a drama film released on 2018 at Lebanon. Nadine Labaki directed

the film and Khaled Mouzaner produced it. The movie starred Zain Al Rafeea, child actor
from Syria as a 12 year old slum boy. It is of flashback format narrating th life of Zain’s life,
his incidents with an immigrant named Rahil and her son Yonas.
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FILM REVIEW

The best movie I've ever watched in my entire life, it was too heartbreaking that it
made me cry. The best cinematography that depicts real life stories, hardship and love. Very
timely as our legislators would like to lower the age of criminality for children; this movie
shows that a child, given supportive and loving environment will not want to commit any
crime, however, children who were neglected and under forceful circumstances like this are
move to commit crimes they even don't understand. The actor who played Zain, did a very
good job, he's so cute and adorable.

OPENING CREDITS

Zain El Hajj, a Beirut 12 year old slum boy is in Roumieh Prison for 5 years as he
killed someone whom he called him as a son of a bitch. Since he was never given a birth
certificate, neither he nor his parents know his birth date. Zain was made to stand in the court
and decided to handle the case in civil way against his parents. As he sued his parents, his
judge asked the reason for it for which he told them that he was born. At the same time, they
processed a migrant workers group which includes Rahil, an Ethiopian woman.

PLOT

The flashback of the movie started and went before the murder. He was living with his
parents and seven younger siblings who were not going to school but making money. He used
to buy tramadol pills illegally and crush them and soak them in clothes as drugs. He also
worked as a delivery boy in a local market. He once helped his sister in hiding the fact of her
first period on fear of being her being married to Assad who is a landlord.

He tried to escape with his sister and failed. His parents accept the marriage between
her and the landlord for two chickens. Being angry, he ran away from his home and got into a
bus where he found man who called himself as cockroach man. They went to Luna park
spending their whole day there. Zain, on seeing the beautiful sunset, began to cry. There he
met an Ethiopian immigrant lady named Rahil, who took pity on seeing him, accepted him to
stay with her in return of babysitting her infant son named Yonas.

The documents of Rahil, which were forged, were due to expire in a short time. She
didn’t even had money to pay for new documents. Aspro, the forger, was ready to forge
documents in return for her baby Yonas. Rahil refused and after the expiry date, she was
arrested. Zain panicked on not being able to find her in home. After some days, he began
searching Yonas and started selling drugs again for money.

CLIMAX

In the prison, he came to know that his mother was pregnant again and planning to
name her Sahar, the name of his demised sister. Being disgusted, he called media and said
that he was tired on seeing his parents pregnant again, not being able to take care of them. He
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told

before judge that he wanted to stop his parents from having children and also told about
Aspro, who was adopting children in a illegal way and mistreating those children. Aspro’s
house was raided and all the children were united with their parents, Rahil and Yonas too.
.
KEY SCENES
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