Wonderful acting.... hard to believe Beirut has neighbourhoods like this

Astonishing film. Brilliant acting by the young central character, Zain.

Good movie. Don't ruin it for yourself after it ends by watching the making of the movie which is chaotic and giddy. Zain's parents excuses are thought provoking even though they are bad parents. I wonder if this boy actor got enough sleep. He seemed very tired in several shots. The ending stopped when I didn't expect it but was a good ending and got me thinking about what the boys life would have been like if he was more fortunate.

A smart boy in a not so smart but cruel environment. The message is clear without shouting it. Very well done movie with an excellent child actor.

Brilliant acting, compelling story, I agree that this was better than "Roma".

depressing story about life in any middle Eastern country

The only things that seemed realistic in this skid-row brat epic were the crappy accommodations and the poor eating habits. Most other things were beyond belief - especially the idea that the court would give him the time of day to charge his parents with the "crime" of improperly bringing him up. Considering the living conditions, all the actors looked far too healthy and seemed totally innocuous.
Obviously, the director, Nadine Labaki, was aiming at the fine people at the Academy awards and egbert.com. If the treacly mess, Salaam Bombay! can make a sack of $$, that would be the way to go.
If you want realism, see Hector Babenco's "Pixote" or several of the Dardenne brothers quasi-documentaries (say La Promesse, Rosetta, or L'Enfant.)

If you ever think such places don't exist just travel to the outskirts of most major cities in the Middle East that have experienced unrest.
Keep tract of this director she has more to offer us in the future. If you can't handle strong visual depictions of children in poverty don't watch this film.

Top notch acting by all the actors including the toddlers. Very believable. One of the above comments stated "gut wrenching". Yes gut wrenching it was. Glad I watched it.

This 2018 Lebanese film is one of the most gut/heart-wrenching films I've seen in a long time. Director/writer Nadine Labaki follows 12 year old Zain (played by a Syrian refuge named Zain) as he struggles to survive on the streets after leaving his unsympathetic family. Labaki shoots in a gritty, docu-style that recalls Iranian films and those of the Dardenne Brothers ("Rosetta," "The Kid with a Bike"). She avoids sentimentality which only makes the film more moving. The child actors are extraordinary and Labaki herself has a small part. Capernaum means "chaos."