Capernaum - The film that held deeper meanings

As the credits scrolled by, I took a look at my little cousin who had been sniffling almost throughout the movie.

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She was not so little anymore, the last time I saw her, she was missing two of her front teeth with two afro pigtails atop her head. Now, she was fairly taller than I was with all her curves in the right places.

She had her head on my lap and at some point even turned away from the movie to sob into my lap. Now she had her eyes closed. I thought she was asleep but when I made to remove her head from my lap, she rose and went into the toilet.

“Are you okay?” I asked when she came out of the toilet, there were droplets of water on her face. She nodded and went to curl herself up in one corner of the bed. Shortly after, I heard the slight heaviness of her breathing and I knew she had slept off.

I wondered what it was about the movie that made her so sober. Yes, Capernaum was a good movie, an extremely emotional one too, but I wasn't sure if that was why she was upset. I decided to let the matter lie until I had the opportunity to speak with her about it again.

It was the holidays and just like every other break in Abia state university, my young cousin ran to my house to relax instead of going to her family house at Aba.

“My family members will kill me with chores. They easily forget that I'm just returning from the stress of school, so immediately after the special welcoming on the first day, they begin to stress me. I'm not ready for all that”.

That was always her excuse for not returning home during the holidays. She was the last child and being the only female, was expected to do all the chores as soon as she arrived home.

My roommate had since traveled to be with her family during the holidays but I didn't want to go anywhere this time around, afterall, the break would last for just 2 weeks.

The following morning, I got up before her to begin writing and as I did, I reflected on the movies I had seen on Netflix recently, especially Adire and Gangubai Kathiawadi which held almost the same themes.

It seemed as if the universe was sending a message about discrimination against people, especially because we know one or two mistakes they've made or we are aware that their professions are unacceptable according to society standards.

Most of the people who went into certain occupation such as prostitution for instance, were sold, or forced into it and had to bear the stigma for the rest of their lives.

Many of those ladies had good dreams for themselves, and the same people who stood to judge them, most times, were the ones who snuck up to warm their beds at night.

As unpleasant as those lessons were, they ought to be picked from those movies and imbibed into society; no matter someone's occupation, as long as he or she did not take human life, he was a human first, and should be regarded as such.

In Adire, I saw how a lady everyone in the community, including the pastor's wife, castigated for starting up her own unique undergarments business, eventually became the one with the solution to the cheating nature of the men in the community.

Again, another lesson not to judge others because of their profession, especially when you have no idea of their back story.

I didn't think it was a way to encourage vices or illegal jobs, I just saw it the way Jesus looked at that adulterous woman in the bible with all the accusers and said “Let him who is free from sin cast the first stone”.

I was still thinking about these movies when my cousin stirred awake. She came to sit on my laps and wrap her hands around me, muttering “good morning”. If she were younger I would have allowed her to stay in that position while I wrote but her weight seemed more than mine so I pushed her off. She chuckled.

“Are we going to see another movie today?” She asked

I shrugged, “I'm seriously considering it. I don't want to watch the cry again.” She had a small smile on her lips.

“I was touched by the movie, that's all. I mean, see how that small boy, Zain, had to suffer simply because his parents brought him into this world”.

I stopped typing for a while then shook my head.

“We should learn to plan our lives whether we've received formal education or not. Most people who haven't been to the four walls of schools are even more wise than some of us”

“Exactly! Which is why Zain’s parents had no excuse to behave that way and blame it on the fact that they were not educated or privileged like other people.”

I was about going back to my writing when she said something striking.

“I rather have just one child, than bring 7 children into this world just to prove how fruitful I am to people who will never help me when those children need help”

Those words carried so much weight that I forgot about Adire and Gangubai for the rest of the day because I was replaying Capernaum in my head. I decided that I was going to see the movie again, but only after I had watched all the movies on my list on Netflix.