Nadine Labaki: Filmmaking as a Tool
PLO Members March in Beirut (1979)
The year is 1975, the setting: Lebanon; tittering only on the edge of crashing in on itself. Under the corrupt presidency of Suleiman Franjieh, the country has become fractionated, a line estranges Christians from Muslims. Militias have formed to make up were the government lacks, its main groups being: the Lebanese Front (LF), led by the Phalangist, represented Maronite Christian clans whose leaders had dominated the traditional elite class of the country’s socio political fabric; the Lebanese National Movement (LNM), a coalition of secular leftists and Sunni Muslims sympathetic to Arab nationalism; the Amal (Lebanese Resistance Detachments) movement comprising Shi'i populists; and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which represented Lebanon’s large Palestinian refugee population. Chaos erupts on April 13th, when Phalangists attack a bus taking Palestinians to a refugee camp at Tall al-Zaʿtar, Lebanon. This event is noted to be the start of a civil war in Lebanon that would last for 15 years, resulting in its citizens living in constant turmoil; physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Nadine Labaki on the Set of “Capernaum” (2018)
Nadine Antoine Labaki was born February 18, 1974, in Baabdet, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, a Christian mountain region north of Beirut. Her father, Antoine Labaki, a telecommunications engineer, and her mother Antoinette Labaki, a homemaker. Like most children during this time in Lebanon, Labaki grew up in poverty. Civil war created insecurity in every part of life. Jobs, food, and living space was often taken or destroyed by the fighting militias. Storytelling was a way of escape for Labaki, an art she learned at an early age from her uncle, who was the family hakawati or storyteller. Her father, Antoine, also often told stories. Most of these stories were of his childhood when he worked at his father’s small movie theater. He would reminisce of working in the projector room, the images taking him far away from the turbulence land he lived in. Coincidentally, Labaki’s family lived above a video store, where she experienced many of the same feelings toward the film as her father. When they had power, which was spotty due to regular bombings happening in the area, Labaki and her sister would watch as many films as possible at every chance they could get. All these factors of her early life are what would result in her future work as a filmmaker, who uses her media for activism.
Labaki went on to study at St. Joseph's University in Beirut, Lebanon, where she earned her degree in audiovisual arts. She was known by her teachers and classmates for constantly producing an incredible work. Her senior short film, 11 Rue Pasteur, follows a sniper who lays along a roof top, watching the village below. It soon becomes apparent that the gun is not being used as a weapon but, as a metaphor for the critical eye that the town’s people below judge with. 11 Rue Pasteur went on to win the Best Short Film at Biennale of Arab Cinema at the Institute du Monde Arabe in 1997. Out of college, Labaki attended an acting workshop in Paris, where she gained tools that helped her pick up small acting gigs that helped fund her film projects. At the same time, she started making music videos and filming advertisements for businesses. Her work became well known and highly regarded. She won several awards at the Phoenix Awards for advertising and two Murex D’Or “Best Video Clip Director of the Year” awards.
Nancy Ajram Dancing in Her Music Video “Akhasmak, Ah” (2013)
One of her most notable early pieces was a music video for Lebanese pop artist Nancy Ajram. The song is titled, “I Will Upset You, Yes,” and in the music video, Ajram is seen dancing is a scandalous black dress, dancing and playing cards in from of a room full of shocked men. The video gained many a raised eyebrow, its content much different from the conservative media the Middle East was used to seeing. This music video sets the tone for Labaki’s work, Lebanese women being comfortable and confident in their skin.
In 2007, Labaki premiered her first feature film, Caramel, at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. She not only directed Caramel, but also wrote and starred in it. The film itself is a comedy that follows five Lebanese women that live in Beirut, who all work at a hair shop together. Amidst the hysterical moments, the film explores love and all its diverse types and circumstances. Same sex relationships, love found later in life, affairs with married men, and premarital sex, are all given the stage.
Jamale (Gisèle Aouad), Rima (Joanna Moukarzel), Nisrine (Yasmine Al Massri), and Layale (Nadine Labaki) in Caramel (2007)
To some, Caramel was wildly controversial, to others, it was groundbreakingly beautiful. Regardless, Labaki stood firm in behind her message. Lebanese women are seen as modern and free to the world. They don’t wear head dresses like most Middle Eastern women and their clothing is bright and colorful. But Labaki feels differently, "Lebanese women seem like they're very modern and model women for the whole Arab world, but I don't think it's really true," she explains. "I don't think we are as free as we think we are. We are not very happy, not very comfortable with our bodies." The hair shop is a place where the women in the film can be vulnerable. A place where they can let their hair down and show their imperfections and their hurts. In addition to showing raw, exposed women, themes of love and friendship flowed in the film as well. Each woman’s love story is different, but equally valid. There is no judgment from one another, only support. When things get toxic, they're are there to step in and lovingly intervene. This film is a refreshing view of women that is shot through the eyes of a woman and not a man, finally.
In 2010, Labiak co-wrote, directed, and starred in her second feature film, Where do We go Now? The film centers on a small, deeply religious town in Lebanon. Also, considered a comedy, the plot speaks the truth of heart broken mothers, sisters, and daughters. Once a peaceful village, where the community did everything together, now a place, with the incoming of radio and television broadcasting the fighting between Muslims and Christians, divided into two-sides. The women in the community are happy to cohabit and compromise where they cannot agree, the men intent on proving one way is the only way, often resulting in bloodshed. The women are tired of mourning and burying their loved ones, so they device hysterical plans to bring the men in their lives back together. Fake miracles, hookers, and drugged cake are all a part of a lengthy process that eventually starts to get through to the men in the village and at the end, the audience has hope for change.
2008 was a haunting time in Lebanon. Political tensions once again broke people into fractions and caused militias to rise. In May, violence broke out and the country’s deepest fears were materializing before their eyes. Still trying to the recover from the civil war that had only ended 18 years before, history seemed to be repeating itself. This time was particularly scary for Labaki because was newly pregnant with her first child. As a child born into a civil war herself, she yearned for better for her child. She made this film in response to these feelings. Lifetimes of the same conflict, this is Labaki putting her foot down in solitude with all the other women of Lebanon.
Sahar (Cedra Izam) in “Capernaum” (2018)
This film was internationally well received and won many awards, including a People’s Choice Award in 2011. Her most recent feature film was released in 2018, Capernaum, follows the life and trial of 12-year-old boy, Zain. The film starts in the courtroom, where Zain has brought his parents to court, suing them for giving birth to him. Zain himself is serving 5 years in prison for stabbing a man. We then get a small, but full glimpse into his life. Living in a two-room slum, Zain lives with his six other siblings. His sister Sahar starts her period, stirring fear in Zain. Zain reminds his sister of their mutual friend who disappeared after she had started her menstrual cycles and the urges Sahar to hide it from her family.
Heartbreaking scenes of little food, abuse, and filth build up tension in the family leading up to the breaking point, when the family marries Sahar off to a man double her age. Zain fights for his sister, only for his family to beat him and through him out. Zain goes on the streets to make his own way, finding family in a single woman and her hidden child. Do to none of them having legal documents, they must constantly remind hidden outside of work, and staying discrete during. Then, the woman goes missing, leaving Zain to care for her infant child. Zain tries his hardest to care for both of them, but without stable income, Zain soon has to go back on the street with the child, begging for food. Things only continue to escalate and lead back to where we were in the beginning, the courtroom.
Labaki Working With Zain Al Rafeea on the Set of “Capernaum” (2018)
Capernaum is perhaps the loudest of Labaki’s films. She is demanding change. She dares the audience to watch and not weep. Labaki felt that she owed it to the youth of Lebanon to make this film and that “they are who she holds her faith in for the future.” The word “Capernaum” came to Labaki before the film. Capernaum, meaning chaos, could only describe the feelings she felt with conflict still rising in Lebanon. Labaki’s husband took out a second mortgage on their house so they could fund this film. Labaki took to the streets, setting up “street auditions. She was adamite that she did not use professional actors, only those who truly know. There was no script on set because none of the actors could read or write. Labaki made an intense connection with each of her actors and walking them through each scene in the film, catching their genuine reactions and emotions. This resulted in 100’s of hours of film to edit.
Zain Al Rafeea, who plays Zain in the film, took a special place in Labaki’s heart. She contacted the United Nations and found Zain and his family a home in Sweden. He is now enrolled in school with his sibling and is living a much healthier life.
Every film Nadine Labaki makes is a reaction to something. Film is her tool to bring attention to problems and shed light on how to change. "I'm not provoking anyone," she says. "I'm not giving anyone a lesson. I'm not saying this is right or wrong. I'm just showing the reality, very softly, the way it is, and it's up to the people to make their own interpretation or conclusion."
Works Cited
“American Univesity of Beirut.” Nadine Labaki, www.aub.edu.lb/doctorates/recipients/Pages/labaki.aspx.
Balaa, Luma. “Framed: The Door Swings Both Ways in the Lebanese Movie Caramel Directed by Nadine Labaki, Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint; Written by Nadine Lebaki, Rodney El Haddad, Jihad Hoiely. Sunnyland Films, Lebanon, May 2007. Running Time 96 Minutes.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, no. 7, 2019, p. COVAA. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgwh&AN=edsgcl.609890684&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Borzou Daragahi. “MOVIESS; WORLD CINEMA; Breaking Taboos in a Very Sweet Way; Nadine Labaki Isn’t after Shock Value in ‘Caramel,’ She Just Wants to Show Real Life in Lebanon. Audiences Are Eating It Up.” Los Angeles Times (CA), 27 Jan. 2008. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=edsnbk&AN=11E74CCF38508CB8&site=eds-live&scope=site.
“Breaking Big: Nadine Labaki’s Star Continues to Rise.” Arab News (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=edsgwh&AN=edsgcl.586384272&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Cooke, Rachel. “Nadine Labaki: 'I Really Believe Cinema Can Effect Social Change'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 Feb. 2019, www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/16/nadine-labaki-interview-capernaum-film-director-actor-lebanon-oscar-nomination.
Ebert, Roger. “Where Do We Go Now? Movie Review (2012): Roger Ebert.” Where Do We Go Now? Movie Review (2012) | Roger Ebert, 2012, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/where-do-we-go-now-2012.
Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Civil War.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/place/Lebanon/Civil-war.
“Lebanese Director Nadine Labaki Is ‘Filming Everything’ after Beirut Blast.” Arab News (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), 2020. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=edsgwh&AN=edsgcl.639299797&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Nadine Khalil. “Why Nadine Labaki Believes Beirut Blast Marks the ‘Birth’ of a New World: ‘There’s a Revolution inside Us.’” National, The (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), 8 Feb. 2021. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsnbk&AN=180845A3BB3D0230&site=eds-live&scope=site.
“Nadine Labaki Lost Herself to the World of ‘Capernaum.’” Gulf News (United Arab Emirates), 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgwh&AN=edsgcl.578032951&site=eds-live&scope=site.
“Nadine Labaki's New Film, Capernaum, Highlights the Heroism of Children in Beirut | CBC Radio.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 14 Jan. 2019, www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/nadine-labaki-s-new-film-capernaum-highlights-the-heroism-of-children-in-beirut-1.4974848.
“Nadine Labaki Reveals ‘Capernaum’ Is a Rallying Cry.” Gulf News (United Arab Emirates), 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=edsgwh&AN=edsgcl.566247930&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Sinno, Nadine. “‘May the War Be Remembered but Not Repeated’: Engendering Peace in Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now?” College Literature, vol. 44, no. 4, Sept. 2017, p. 615. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/lit.2017.0036.
Twair, Pat & Samir. “L.A. Welcomes Lebanese Filmmaker Nadine Labaki, Who Wrote, Stars in ‘Caramel.’” WRMEA, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Apr. 2008, www.wrmea.org/008-april/la-welcomes-lebanese-filmmaker-nadine-labaki-who-wrote-stars-in-caramel.html.