Film Review – Egyptian Dramatic and humor of real life difficult events
The movie, Malesh Ehna Benetbahdel, is an Egyptian film directed by Sherif Mandour, and was released in 2005. It does not contain any hard or offensive language, matter of fact it is easy to understand by everybody who is Arabic speaking. The translation to the movie name means ‘excuse us, we are not being treated well’ indicates that the situation for is not well, and they face a lot of troubles one after the other. It’s is a story of a Father who owns a hookah bar, and his son who is in love with one girl and wants to merry her, but it gets tough as the girls father makes stuff complicated. The father then receives a call from his good friend in Iraq (a little before the American invasion), asking him for some mangoes from Egypt for business. The father orders the sun to deliver them, which the son did, but then the sun disappeared because of stuff he said about Saddam Hussein, and that’s when all the problem started.
Throughout this movie, especially near the middle when the son disappeared because he talked about Saddam Hussein, it reminded me of how in the Arabic world if somebody talks bad about a president or leader, he’ll be taken away by the police. After he did that it showed some aspect of emotion from the father, his friend, and his girlfriend towards the news, and the father takes upon himself to get him back.
This movie also contained a lot of situations that may not even happen in real life, but the director has done it in a way to make it fully believable and engaging to the audience. In the beginning of the movie, the father meets with an American couple who came to Egypt for a visit. The father was very welcoming and treated them well. When the American invasion happened, and the father was taken away by the Americans, he notices that the American person he met with in Egypt is in the army,
so the American person helps him get out of jail. In real life, this situation is nearly impossible, and if founded, the American army would take serious action for both. The father ended up escaping, and
returning to Egypt with his son.
Although this movies plot is a hard situation, which includes sad music from editing, and a lot of drama and emotions is evolved, the director has managed to include comedy in the movie. First of all the father’s hair cut and mustache is a story by itself. From the beginning of the movie till the end, the father did not shave, nor he rearranged his hair. But also it can resemble the tough situations they are going through, as a person would have a messy hair when facing difficult situations. Another comedic thing about the movie is the way the father speaks. His facial expression, movement and choice of words makes normal situations funny, which is what the actor has mastered in this movie.
In conclusion, this dramatic comedy movie was well edited and directed to show some of the real life hardships but in an exaggerated and comedic way. Also the editing and including sad music when the situation is bad, and funky music when the situation is ether good or funny, helps the audience understand what is going on and follow smoothly with the film.