Capernaum (2018)

I found this film to be fairly devastating. I've read that some critics have thought it relentlessly sad and desperately sentimental. I didn't think it was either. It's a fascinating portrait of children caring for one another because of a government's failure to care. The acting is phenomenal and the filmmaking is lovely.

A note on the title. The version I saw was titled Capernaum (Chaos). Capernaum is a village in Israel on the Sea of Galilee that you will recognize if you've read the New Testament. The film is titled كفر ناحوم in Arabic, which is the name of that village. Capernaum, however, was shot in Beirut, Lebanon (about 70 miles as the crow flies from Capernaum), and concerns a young Lebanese boy. In French, Capharnaüm also refers to the city in Israel, but it also means, colloquially, a mess – chaos.