Cairo, the 13th July, 2009

“Farah – popular egyptian movie”

*** “Farah” is the egyptian movie everybody I know is talking about. Most opinions are positive and lots of friends have insisted for me to watch it. Opposing – and still challenging - the infamous and much talked about egyptian censorship, there have been a series of movies, theatre plays, songs and books openly criticizing the state of the country and showing off its rotten spots, corruption at all levels and hypocrisy.
As far as I am concerned, that newly acquired freedom (or the illusion of it) to point a fair finger to the things that need to be changed in Egypt is a great step towards development and mind opening but I still see there is much confusion and prejudices in the heads of the ones who dare to unmask this strange system.

*** When I saw the egyptian movie “Cabaret” ( for which I was offered the role of the “rakasah” that I refused ) and checked the way artists were portrayed, I literally cried and would have happily punched the director if he happened to be in front of me. I thought it was unfair to portray ALL artists as prostitutes and pimps and pass the idea that those who are involved in music and dance will burn in hell. It sounded childish, narrow minded and so full of ignorance that I couldn´t believe a director of this generation would put such a crap on screen.
Cinema and all arts should serve to develop society into a more modern, intelligent, developed state and not to make it return to the Middle Age and its Inquisition (witch hunting being replaced by dancer´s hunting as the ones to blame the most for the depravity of the country! What a hypocrisy!).

*** Then I saw “Farah” and had the same disgust previously felt in “Cabaret”.
In this new movie – showing now in egyptian cinema theatres – the main subject is the current of tragic events following a major decision from the patriarch of a “baladi” family. There is a wedding (“farah”), the bride is running to the doctor to restore her “virginity” and avoid disaster in her first night with her husband (she´s supposed to show a sign of virginal blood to the families on her first night with her husband but she´s not a virgin anymore) and the mother of one of the male characters ( and the wedding organizer) dies in the night of the wedding leaving him with the decision of proceeding with the party or cancelling it due to respect to his mother´s unexpected death.
The fact that he decided to continue with the wedding unleashes a series of tragic events that leave most characters in the utter most disaster.
Before dying, the mother of the wedding´s organizer receives two dancers who come for the party. The first dancer – young – is put to run real fast by the old lady who reproaches her son for bringing a “rakasah” into her respectable home. She asks her son if his intention is to destroy her by bringing beer, haxixe and dancers to the wedding. All in this order and coming in a single explosive “sinful pack”!

The second dancer – an older woman – is also criticized by the lady of the house and mocked at for her age following a pep talk about the shame of her path and the possibility of redemption through God.
She gets snapped on the face by the owner of the house –and wedding organizer- and then forced to dance with a tearful and purple face after the decision of proceeding with the wedding despite the matriarch´s death.

The party is portrayed as one of the worst kind of weddings you can see in Egypt. Everybody is drank and smoking drugs, harassing women and singing out of tune until the morning. Nothing and no ones seems to be clean and good. ALL IS BAD.

There´s an old outdated singer – out of glory and out of work – trying to make a come-back to the wedding business (with disastrous results) and a general sense of hopelessness and the dangerous idea that you have to choose between having fun/enjoying life´s pleasures here represented by the degenerated wedding party
( presuming that life´s pleasures HAVE to be sinful!!!) or a respectful, reserved, religious oriented kind of priest´s life in order to receive heaven´s blessing. Once again, prejudices, extremism and ignorance prevailing and passing on their flags to thousands, if not millions who will watch the movie with no educated mind of their own to see what´s right and wrong in the movie´s half hidden message.

*** Am I choosing to watch to wrong movies?! After “The Jacoubian Building” and “Dunya” (one of my favourite movies ever), all I´ve seen was a series of egyptian movies with strong images of some rotten spots of this society but also a message of fatalist choice between enjoying life – and being punished for it as if all pleasures had to be sinful – or turning to God and piety and being rewarded in this life and afterward. What´s going on???