I first heard about this Lebanese film when film critic Mark Kermode gave his review for it on BBC News The Film Review, and then I found it listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I was most interested in it. Basically, twelve-year-old Zain El Hajj (Zain Al Rafeea) is serving a five-year sentence in Roumieh Prison for murder, after stabbing someone and showing no remorse. Neither Zain nor his parents know his exact date of birth as they never received an official birth certificate. In court, Zain declares he wants to sue his mother Souad (Kawsar Al Haddad) and his father Selim (Fadi Kamel Yousef). When asked by the judge why he wants to sue his parents, Zain answers "Because I was born". Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities process a group of migrant workers, including a young Ethiopian woman named Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw). The story then flashes back several months to before Zain was arrested. He is a gutsy, streetwise child living with his parents and at least seven other siblings who make money in various schemes instead of going to school. Zain forges prescription drugs for his mother to sell drug-soaked clothing to drug addicts. Zain also works as a delivery boy for Assad (Nour El Husseini), the family's landlord, and the owner of a local market stall. One morning, Zain helps his eleven-year-old sister Sahar (Cedra Izzam) to hide the evidence of her first period, fearing she will be married if her parents discover that she can now become pregnant. Zain makes plans to escape with Sahar and begin a new life. He finally runs away, angered when his parents do indeed marry off Sahar to Assad, and catches a bus with an elderly man dressed in a knock-off superhero costumes, he calls him Cockroachman (Joseph Jimbazian). At the Luna Park in Ras Beirut, Zain meets Rahil, an Ethiopian migrant worker who is working as a cleaner at a theme park. She takes pity on Zain and agrees to let him live with her in exchange for Zain babysitting her undocumented infant son Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole) when she is at work. Rahil's forged migrant documents are due to expire, and she doesn't have enough money to pay her forger Aspro (Alaa Chouchnieh) for new documents. Rahil refuses Aspro's offer to adopt Yonas to him in exchange for the documents to be forged for free. Rahil's documents expire and she is arrested by Lebanese authorities. Zain panics when she does not return, and after several days he begins looking after Yonas, claiming he is his brother, and sells drugs again to make money. One day, while at Souk Al Ahad, Zain meets young girl Syrian refugee Maysoun (Farah Hasno) and claims that Aspro has agreed to send her to Sweden. Zain demands that Aspro send him to Sweden as well, Aspro agrees to do so if Zain gives him Yonas. Zain reluctantly agrees, and Aspro tells him that he will need some form of identification. Zain returns to his parents and demands they give him his identification, but they tell him he doesn't have any. Having disowned him for leaving, they kick him out of their house. Before leaving his parents reveal to him that Sahar died due to pregnancy complications. Zain is furious, steals a knife and stabs Assad. He is arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. While in prison, Zain learns that his mother is pregnant and plans to name the child Sahar. Disgusted by his mother's lack of remorse for her daughter's death, he contacts the media and says that he is tired of parents neglecting their children and plans to sue his parents for having children when they cannot care for them. Zain also claims that Aspro is adopting children illegally and mistreating them. Aspro's house is raided and the children and parents are reunited, including Yonas and Rahil. Zain's photo is taken for his ID card. Also starring Elias Khoury as The Judge. Rafeea gives a compelling performance as the pre-adolescent boy living in poverty doing whatever it takes to solve his money problems, the court case is not something you can seriously, but the leading actor, authentic locations, hand-held cinematography and apparently improvised material make it all worthwhile, an interesting drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language. Very good!