Message from Capernaum

The suffering of innocent people, especially children, is really painful to witness. For Ivan, the very logical atheist in the novel The Brothers Karamazov, that becomes a reason to question the benevolence of God, for allowing children who "have not eaten [the apple] yet, and are not yet guilty of anything" to be brutalized, ignored, tortured, enslaved, raped, killed. "It's beyond my comprehension that they have to suffer," he told Alyosha.

For most of us, these circumstances may be a call for tenderness, a reminder to always take side with the weak and the oppressed. Because we cannot remain silent in the face of oppression, injustice, suffering. Spread some cares. "The stabbed is in you, the bleeding is on me," wrote Sutardji, the poet. In the same line voiced by William Blake in "Songs of Innocence and of Experience":

        “Can I see anothers woe,

        And not be in sorrow too.

        Can I see anothers grief,

        And not seek for kind relief..”

 

Capernaum. Sony Pictures (2018)

That desire to question and find justice, echoes throughout the film Capernaum. Capernaum is the name of a fishing village on the north bank of Lake Galilee. In the New Testament, this place was called the City of Jesus because here Jesus performed many miracles, healing the lame, and casting out evil spirits from the  possessed people. The city was destroyed in the first century, then rebuilt on its old ruins. The name of the city in Arabic and French is often used in literature to express a state of chaos, disorder, like hell. It is in this sense that the director Nadine Labaki uses the word for the title of the film which won the Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Within two hours of the show we witnessed the misery of Zain Al Hajj, a 12-year-old boy who lives in a broken family in Beirut. He has seven younger siblings who were born in a row but were neglected, an another one is on the way. His family's poverty forced Zain work to make a living, while his peers went to school. And Sahar, her younger sister, was forced to marry at the age of 11 as soon as she got her first menstruation, "sold" by her parents with only two chickens as her dowry.

Unlike the children in that Dostoevsky's novel who are waiting for universal harmony to turn things around, Zain takes drastic steps. He sued his parents to court. The whole story of the film is framed with an incident in the courtroom, where Zain is present as a prosecutor, then the story flashback to the time before Zain was jailed.

 

Capernaum. Sony Pictures (2018)

The opening scene jerks our attention. The judge asked what criminal that the son charges for his parents.

        "Because they brought me to the world," Zain answered.

        "What do you want from your parents?" asked the Judge again.

        "I want them to stop having children!"

        “I want grown-ups to hear what I have to say. I’m sick of those who can't take care of their kids. What will I take from all this? All the insults, all the beatings, all the kickings? The chain, the hose, or the belt? The nicest word I hear is: 'Fuck off, you son of a bitch!' 'Piss off, you fucker!' Life is dog shit. Filthier than the shoes on my feet! I'm living in hell. Getting roasted, like the chicken I'm dying to eat.
Life is a bitch! I was expecting to be a good man, respected and loved. But God doesn't want that.
He wants us to be floor mats, to be stepped on.”  

 

Zain and Yonas. Capernaum. Sony Pictures (2018)

Sure we can understand Zain's anger. But what he showed wasn't just anger. He also showed how children who live in poverty and hectic environments can quickly take on certain role of an adult. They have a more mature sense of responsibility and attitude than adults who destroy their lives.

Zain tried to protect his younger sister Sahar from an early marriage, but was helpless. The pressure and insults from his parents worsened, making him run away from home. Zain met with Rahil in his escape, an immigrant worker from Ethiopia who has a two-year-old child, Yonas.  Rahil then was arrested by the police, for her stay and work permit in the country has expired, leaving Yonas in Zain's custody, without a message. Zain took over the responsibility of taking care of Yonas, feeding and taking care of the baby. His sense of responsibility made him unable to leave the baby.

 

What we see in the film Capernaum is the struggle of an innocent child, facing neglect, irresponsible attitudes of the adults around him. Too much of the same pain happens in the real world. Children in the middle of warring countries, in refugee camps, in the street and slums under the pressure of poverty. Children who have not been given basic rights, are forced to work, have not been touched by love even since they were born.

Two hours passed, Zain's story ended on screen, but the same pain continued in the real world.  By focusing on the children in this film, the director indulges a sense of hope. The kid that play the role as Zain is a refugee from Syria. His real life is almost similar to the story in the film. In the end, and in the real life, Zain finds way to a better life. As Dostoevsky wrote, ""Children can be loved.. even when they are dirty, even when they are ugly." Love saves the children.

Indonesian version