12-year-old Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) has been locked up in a juvenile prison for five years for stabbing someone. At the beginning of the film, he returns to court to sue his parents. His reason: they gave him life, bringing him into the world. And it has not been a good life.
The film is divided into scenes in the courtroom, and flashbacks showing us what has brought this severely dysfunctional family to this point.
With almost more siblings than he can count, Zain lives with his parents (Kawsar Al Haddad and Fadi Yousef) in a very poor part of Beirut in Lebanon, and his life has been anything but easy. Forced to steal food from the local convenience store where he works to even have enough to stay alive, Zain has always been closest to his younger sister Sahar (Haita Izzam).
When Sahar is married off to much older husband Assaad (Nour El Husseini), Zain runs away from home and begins living on the streets, taking shelter with an illegal immigrant from Ethiopia named Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her infant son Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole).
I won’t say any more about the events of the film at this point, because it would spoil it too much for you. I encourage you to discover the film for yourself at your earliest convenience, as it really is a brilliant piece of cinema.
The director Nadine Labaki, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jihad Hojeily and Michelle Keserwany, has made a film that is guaranteed to tug at your heart strings in every scene. Her framing of shots is beautiful, and there is a real beauty to the life that the characters lead and the places they inhabit, even if only in a visual sense. Their experiences are anything but beautiful, but the way the film has been shot is truly beautiful. Cinematographer Christopher Aoun is incredibly talented, and his talent shines through in every single frame of this film.
The performances from the entire cast will blow you away. In particular, Zain – himself a Syrian refugee with no prior acting experience – is a wonder to behold. He has the most expressive eyes of any actor I have seen in a long time, and it is through these eyes that we experience the entire film.
Another brilliant performance is that of Alaa Chouchnieh as market vendor Aspro, who enters Zain’s life midway through the film, and through one event or another, ensures that his life will never be the same again.
The score (by Khaled Mouzanar) is absolutely haunting, and perfectly suited to the picture. Utilising instruments with a Middle Eastern flavour locates the film in a very particular place, but the music at no point descends into cliché, but is original in its execution. Used solely to heighten the emotional strength of particular key moments of the film, it is film scoring done right.
I know that a lot of people don’t place as much stock in awards ceremonies as they used to, but I would say that if this film doesn’t win the Oscar for which it is nominated, then there is definitely something wrong with the process. This film is absolutely magnificent, and demonstrates what life and even simple existence are like for far too many of the world’s population.
If you do see this film, make sure you have plenty of tissues handy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
There is no other rating for this film I can assign in good conscience other than a resounding 10 out of 10.
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