Egypt is, without a doubt, the most prolific Arab nation in terms of film production. The old Egyptian classic melodramas and musicals are recognized and appreciated throughout the Middle East. Today, Egyptian films are increasingly focused on a number of social and political issues. However, heavy censorship in Egypt is a major obstacle, though filmmakers are finding ways to slowly overcome boundaries.The 2006 film The Yacoubian Building (Omaret yakobean) by Marwan Hamed and starring Egyptian legend Adel Imam stands out as a breakthrough in censorship and conservative ideals. The film broke box office records in Egypt and was the nation's official entry for the Academy Awards.
Based on a bestselling novel by Alaa Al Aswany with the same name set in 1990, The Yacoubian Building tells the stories of the tenants of the film's namesake and uses the building, an actual building in Cairo, as a metaphor for modern Egypt. The characters face a slew of social problems--poverty, religious radicalism, sexual harrasment, aging, homesexuality, adultry, abortion, drugs, political corruption, police brutality--and each of their morals is put to the test, and most of them fail.
The depiction of modern Egypt is scathing, to say the least. Very little redemption or hope for Egypt's future is presented.
The depiction of modern Egypt is scathing, to say the least. Very little redemption or hope for Egypt's future is presented.
The film tackles so many issues that it would be futile to attempt to analyze all of them here in this blog. I will most likely return to this film in the future to analyze more specific themes, but this entry will focus on a prevailing theme that I believe is exemplified by each of the characters' personal story: the fear that social progress will ruin tradition and humanity. This is also known as the modernist paradox.
The tenants of the Yacoubian Building all want change. Soad (Somaya Al Khashab) lives with her mother and siblings in a shanty on the roof of the building. She wants to make more money, but cannot hold a job because she rejects the sexual advances of her bosses to maintain her honor. Her mother tells her a woman can learn to tolerate a certain amount of harassment and still keep her dignity and make money. This story represents Egypt as a place where people must forgo their morality in order to make money and survive.
Soad clings to her beliefs in the face of a society that has moved far past her notions of honor. She is at odds with the world around her. At one point, she gives in to her boss and allows him to dry hump her in a back room. Everyone else is unbothered by this, but Soad is crushed and represents a victim of modernity. In this case, the modernism is an immoral and evil thing.
Zaki Al Dessouki (Adel Imam) is the Yacoubian Building's oldest tenant and an heir to a Pasha. In one scene, he drunkenly proclaims to Soad that Cairo had gone to the dogs, that it was once a city greater than Paris but was now full of buildings that were "slums on the top and deformed in the basement," a reference to the poor people that lived on the roof and the morally empty rich tenants inside. Zaki demands a return to the old glory of Egypt, a proclamation that is fitting to be made by one of the greatest actors in Egyptian cinema.
Despite their drastic age diffrence, Zaki and Soad marry at the end of the film, serving as the film's only ray of hope. The two represent a merging of old and new, rich and poor, Muslim and Coptic. The audience is left to believe that through their marriage, Zaki and Soad are preserving the dream of transforming Cairo, since every other subplot ends tragically.
The Yacoubian Building is an attempt at a sweeping portrayal of contemporary Egypt that is a landmark in terms of breaking boundaries in cinema, but it also suffers from trying to cram too much into one film.
Each of the subplots is just as important as the next, and depth and insight into the issues is sacrificed to preserve screen time. Nonetheless, this is a crucial film to see to get a more honest and humanist representation of Egypt and an introduction to the social perceptions of a variety of issues.
The tenants of the Yacoubian Building all want change. Soad (Somaya Al Khashab) lives with her mother and siblings in a shanty on the roof of the building. She wants to make more money, but cannot hold a job because she rejects the sexual advances of her bosses to maintain her honor. Her mother tells her a woman can learn to tolerate a certain amount of harassment and still keep her dignity and make money. This story represents Egypt as a place where people must forgo their morality in order to make money and survive.
Soad clings to her beliefs in the face of a society that has moved far past her notions of honor. She is at odds with the world around her. At one point, she gives in to her boss and allows him to dry hump her in a back room. Everyone else is unbothered by this, but Soad is crushed and represents a victim of modernity. In this case, the modernism is an immoral and evil thing.
Zaki Al Dessouki (Adel Imam) is the Yacoubian Building's oldest tenant and an heir to a Pasha. In one scene, he drunkenly proclaims to Soad that Cairo had gone to the dogs, that it was once a city greater than Paris but was now full of buildings that were "slums on the top and deformed in the basement," a reference to the poor people that lived on the roof and the morally empty rich tenants inside. Zaki demands a return to the old glory of Egypt, a proclamation that is fitting to be made by one of the greatest actors in Egyptian cinema.
Despite their drastic age diffrence, Zaki and Soad marry at the end of the film, serving as the film's only ray of hope. The two represent a merging of old and new, rich and poor, Muslim and Coptic. The audience is left to believe that through their marriage, Zaki and Soad are preserving the dream of transforming Cairo, since every other subplot ends tragically.
The Yacoubian Building is an attempt at a sweeping portrayal of contemporary Egypt that is a landmark in terms of breaking boundaries in cinema, but it also suffers from trying to cram too much into one film.
Each of the subplots is just as important as the next, and depth and insight into the issues is sacrificed to preserve screen time. Nonetheless, this is a crucial film to see to get a more honest and humanist representation of Egypt and an introduction to the social perceptions of a variety of issues.
Photo Caption: Somaya al Khashab and Adel Imam dance together in The Yacoubian Building.
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wallah i love this book!! do you have the movie i want to borrow it?
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