When Anger Births Freedom

Many of our discussions of Arab culture have focused on the role that the arts have on shaping culture. Through literature, poetry and film difficult issues can be addressed, and can spread faster, farther and more forcefully than they could by word of mouth alone. “Cairo 678”, an Egyptian film by Mohamed Diab addresses the difficult yet extremely important issue of sexual harassment in Egypt. The story follows three women and chronicles their struggles and attempts to combat the rampant sexual harassment in Egypt and societal norms that perpetuate it.

Each of the three women come from different backgrounds, not only socially but in terms of religious and economic standing as well. All three women’s stories are connected with scenes and events playing out repeatedly to give an impression of just how often we may see something unfold in front of our own eyes without understanding the full context of it. When the women defend themselves by stabbing a perpetrator with a pin, they come together realizing that nothing will change unless those responsible for the harassment come to fear consequences. This gives hope to many other women fearing harassment but who choose to remain silent due to the fear of societal judgement. The film ends on a positive note, with all three women finally finding peace, each in their own way, and with what seems like a step towards progress with the first sexual harassment lawsuit in Egypt moving forwards.

Though it is an emotional and interesting film in its own right, “Cairo 678” is most alarming due to the fact that the struggles faced by the film’s women, and the societal issues they indicate, are very real. The film then, takes on a greater role as an insight into the issue of rampant sexual harassment in Egypt,

and it succeeds in every attempt to illicit fear, anger and despair. We are shown just how widespread and normalized the behavior is, and are afforded a measure of the anger that the women feel at the injustice. Perhaps worse yet, is the response by many authorities, who blame the women and refer to it as being “a scandal” if it should get out that a woman was assaulted. These scenes in the film speak to very real frustrations felt in Egyptian society today. Crucially though, the film is not one solely of tragedy, for it documents the anger that eventually spurred change. It showed that eventually, when enough people commit to it, injustice can be combatted. “Cairo 678” is larger than most stories of its kind. Its characters are developed enough to illicit compassion and are relatable enough to engender feelings of likeness and empathy.

Furthermore, they accomplish this whilst still being strong enough to be representative not only of three women, but of all those who have suffered from sexual harassment. It is impossible to come away from the film feeling nothing, and it is only natural and right that one would walk away either in tears or in anger, and possessed of a will to want change.