Shock value - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Fri., February 15, 2008 Adar1 9, 5768

Israel Time: 03:06 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Rosner's Domain

Diplomacy

Defense

Jewish World

Opinion

National

Print Edition

Advertising

Books

Arts & Leisure

Business

Real Estate

Easy Start

Travel

Week's End

Anglo File

Shock value

By Zvi Bar'el

Tags: youssef chahine

In the end, Hatem commits suicide with a bullet to his head. The film critics in Egypt had no problem telling their readers that this is what happens in the new film by director Youssef Chahine, entitled "Heya fawda" ("This Is Chaos"). That is because it isn't the ending that is the main thing here, but rather the new way in which Chahine warns about the injustices and corruption of Egypt's regime and bureaucracy. He stretches the boundaries once again, this time not with respect to the official censor, but instead, and in a direct way, against the regime itself.

The film takes place in the Shubra district of Cairo. Police Sergeant Hatem (played by gifted actor Khaled Saleh) strikes fear into the hearts of the local residents, who need his help in arranging their affairs. He accepts bribes openly and beats people up, all the while enjoying the protection of his superiors at the police station.

According to one commentary on the film, Chahine chose to attribute profound corruption to a mere police sergeant because the censorship rules do not permit casting aspersions on senior officers. The highest government echelon in Egypt, whose involvement in corruption scandals is not even being concealed any longer by government newspapers - this is what is on trial here. Chahine, the public knows, does not need to invent the character of Officer Hatem; he can be found everywhere, at every level.

	Advertisement

The bald, ugly, crude Hatem falls in love with Nour (Menna Shalabi), a beautiful young woman who herself loves an honest young lawyer working in the district. But Hatem is not daunted. He asks Muslim clerics to teach him the secret of personal charm, but they send him off to pray. He asks an old woman who has mystical powers to prepare an amulet that will make Nour fall in love with him, and eventually also approaches a Christian priest because "it is known that Christians know how to perform spells." When the priest kicks him out of his church, Hatem warns him that he will not let his congregants celebrate their holidays that year.

When it becomes clear to Hatem that there is no one who will save him and no way to make Nour love him, he abducts and rapes her. Now the prosecuting attorney, Nour's beloved, enters the picture after hearing the details from her. He embarks on an extensive and dangerous investigation, during the course of which he gets shot, but does not die. The end we already know.

On the skeleton of this plot, Chahine has fleshed out the ills of all of Egyptian society: poverty, the poor level of education (Nour does not know English even though she is a university graduate), the loss of cultural awareness (Hatem digs out a plaque bearing a rare inscription in order to sell it to a dealer), the class gap, the ruling party's corruption, the violence and sexual distress, the appalling oppression of women, the attitude toward religion, and so on. All of these are depicted with cinematic bluntness that is intended to shock. Indeed, Chahine has no inhibitions about showing an explicit rape scene and lengthy shots of prostitutes on the streets of Egypt, dancing and displaying their bodies for all to see. The sergeant is pathologically corrupt and the director even allows the crowd to throw stones at the police station.

Now the reaction has also come. Next week, what is referred to by the Al-Ahram weekly as the "Urgent Matters Court" in Cairo will deliberate on a petition filed by attorney Nabieh al-Bahi against the film. Al-Bahi is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is also slammed by Chahine in "This Is Chaos." The character playing a Brotherhood member in the film suggests to Nour's mother that the organization will support her family if she votes for it; he also "allows" the mother to receive assistance from the group's political rivals, albeit not to support them. The mother, one of the strongest characters in the film, says she no longer understands the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring: "It used to be that they spoke in clear language."

Al-Bahi's lawsuit is interesting because it is directed not only against the censor of the arts, Ali Abu Shadi, for having permitted the production and screening of the film: Al-Bahi is asking the court to prohibit the screenings because, in his opinion, the film is damaging to the Christian religion and is liable to cause a religious war in Egypt.

In Egypt, where relations between Christians and Muslims are extremely volatile these days, it is possible that this argument is not unfounded - but it turns out that the film was made with the agreement of local heads of the Coptic Church, who allowed the director to film inside a church. Representatives of the church have never before taken legal action against film directors or producers, and it is doubtful that they are comfortable with the fact that this time it is a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood who is speaking in their name.

Next week Chahine turns 82 and it appears that the court deliberations, which will be held on his birthday, will only present the legendary director with yet another shot in the arm when it comes to speaking his piece against "his Egypt," which he sees as crashing.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	'We lost a great leader'
	Dignitaries honor the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress.


	Deadly incursion
	A mentally disabled Palestinian dies of wounds sustained in a West Bank IDF arrest raid.

Today Online


	Nasrallah: Blood of Mughniyah will lead to Israel's elimination
	Responses: 325


	Israeli embassies on high alert following Mughniyah killing
	Responses: 80


	Yossi Melman: It's not whether Hezbollah will respond, but how
	Responses: 106


	Ballistic expert: Israel ignoring option of U.S. anti-rocket system
	Responses: 129


	Shmuel Rosner: Israel has always been involved in U.S. elections
	Responses: 39

More Headlines
00:35 Israel issues abduction warning for citizens traveling abroad


03:00 Livni to tell Rice: Qassams must stop before end of peace talks


23:06 Nasrallah: Mughniyah's blood will lead to elimination of Israel


02:38 Jewish functionaries are stirring up the Clinton-Obama race


21:21 Dignitaries honor Tom Lantos; Livni: World lost a great leader


22:35 Damascus: Syrians to sue U.S. for selling weapons to Israel


01:22 U.S. charges Israeli man for trying to sell stolen French antiques


02:43 Diplomats: U.S. recently shared new batch of intel on Iran with IAEA


22:40 UN examines damage caused by Qassam rockets, Israeli sanctions


15:33 IDF bombs Gaza buildings used for launching rockets at Israel


22:28 Hamas delegation visits Egypt, demands Rafah crossing be reopened


21:47 Gazans celebrate Valentine's Day as Hamas looks the other way


19:10 French President sparks row over religion, Holocaust studies