Capernaum

It's the missing question in the often heated debates about child poverty - I hear it all the time in my own country (UK) - has it risen? Should the government be doing more to help? How can a developed country tolerate children growing up in squalor? The question that is never asked, that is in fact completely taboo to even suggest, is why are people living in poverty having children? And is that moral?

It is the question asked by Zain, the protagonist of this superb film, who decides to sue his parents for having him. Having endured a lifetime of neglect, abuse and poverty he thinks no, and asks the court to prevent his parents from having anymore children.

That sets the film rolling, the vast majority of which takes place in flashback as we see how Zain ended up in court. Along the way we see the grim reality of life in the slums of Beirut, as Zain eventually decides to run away after his parents sell off his older (11 year old) sister in marriage to their landlord. He ends up living with an undocumented Ethiopian migrant who lives in a shack with her baby, and Zain ends up looking after the child while the mother works. This provides a counterpoint in many ways to the earlier scenes, as the threesome establish something akin to the warm loving home Zain had never known. But yet again, the films forces us to ask - why has this woman had a child? Though employed, she lives in squalor, and as an illegal migrant her child will never be able to get an education, as a local people trafficker trying to persuade her to sell the child reminds her. Is this moral? Does her right to have a child trump that of the child's right for a decent start in life?

The films develops from there, though I cannot reveal anymore without spoiling the final act. Though this isn't really a plot-driven film per se, more a slice-of-life look at Zain and how he deals with the situations life throws at him. This film reminded me very much of 'Salaam Bombay', Mira Nair's 1987 film which deals with street children in Mumbai.

It's a brave film and the only other film I can think of which tackles this issue is Ken Loach's 'Ladybird Ladybird', in which an impoverished woman with a chaotic home-life repeatedly gets pregnant. There I think Loach approached his protagonist from a more sympathetic perspective, seeing her as a victim of an unfair economic system and social forces beyond her control. Though I may be misreading her intention, Nadine Labaki takes this further and asks - is it basically selfish for people in these circumstances to have children?

Personally speaking - should the government (whether in rich or poor countries) be doing more to alleviate poverty? Yes. Is the economic system both within and between states currently too unequal? Yes. If you are stuck in poverty, dealing with poor mental health, drug addiction, illiteracy, malnutrition, slum-living condition - that sucks, and is unfair. But one thing you should not be doing is bringing children into that situation and thereby perpetuating the cycle of misery. Yes, some children rise above their circumstances, but the vast majority don't, and are thereby condemned to a miserable life through no fault of their own. It's the height of selfishness. This is the provocative question Labaki and Zain pose in this engrossing film.