2018 (Lebanese)
Dir. Nadine Labaki
A 12 year old boy, Zain sue his parents for the 'crime' of giving him birth. I repeat, suing parents for their choice of producing a life. Doesn't it feels heart-wrenching, or rather sinful? Well, acceptance of such an issue in itself is a bigger deal. The movie is real art work, letting us on a journey of a poor world, untold, undesirable, but that's extremely rampant too.
The sole need of survival accidentally takes the boy Zain along with an infant Yonas to a struggling journey that's seemingly going to take away two innocent lives on the streets. The sequences are shot and brought out so synaesthetically, and the performances are so natural, you yourself feel like rescuing those little ones from the situation. Or rather you feel inanimate about yourself, looking at the kind of life it has exhibited. In short, screenplay dominance is brilliant.
When generations are dying of hunger right around you, why would you want another life to be introduced to the same world and leave him to find his own grain, and fight those same pathetic situations that you have been fighting since ever!?
All of that combined may seem depressing, but trust me the end is beautiful, most meaningful and without a doubt, fully relevant.
Because this is not a review post, I am almost giving you the plots of the story. But there are few scenes of Zain with his sister Sahar, in the beginning of the movie, I would specifically like to talk about. The required natural 'distinct' love & understanding between the two is so touching and on point, (those who have watched would know) that for a moment I just wanted to hold Zain's face and tell him 'Dude, we love you for whatever you are, and wherever you come from.' And that's because unfortunately we live in days where we have to praise normalcy, and someone just being human. Forget superheroes and power gods; just being human with a pinch of emotion is heroic today.
It has been one of my favorite films, and more so ever I feel fortunate to have watched it, and hence m glad to share it with you all.
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