B Movie

Tracing the history of the Egyptian espionage film, Hani Mustafa finds fault with its latest incarnation

Throughout the history of cinema and film in Egypt, the detective-espionage genre has always been popular -- no doubt at least in part because such films rely for their subject matter on the historical conflict between Egypt and Israel since the latter was declared a state in 1948. And especially since the 1967 War, the constant desire to defeat Israel in this conflict makes it easy for the viewer to identify with the action in such films and television series, driven by the urge to vanquish the enemy.

This is demonstrated by the fact that the two espionage-based television series directed by Yahya El-Alami, Dumu' fi 'uyoun waqiha (The Tears of Insolence) starring Adel Imam and Ra'fat El-Haggan starring Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz continue to enjoy the highest viewing rates not only in Egypt but throughout the Arab world to this day, so many years after they were first aired in the early 1980s. Likewise Kamal El-Sheikh's Al-Su'oud ila al hawiyah (Ascending to the Abyss, 1979), perhaps the most important espionage film in the history of Egyptian cinema: it too proved incredibly popular.

The espionage genre is a subcategory of suspense, which depends on powerful dramatic structure and a gripping plot. Yet in many cases it also edges closer to the action movie. This may seem like a moot point but the difference between suspense and action is not in fact negligible: the first relies on exercising the mind, narrating events in the context of tightly constructed storyline, while the second depends rather on the chase, the explosion, the murder, the battle, forgoing much drama in the process. It is probable that the kind of film in which espionage and action coalesce into their own sub-genre first started with the James Bond series, whose stories were written by Ian Flemming. Beginning with Terence Young's Dr No (1962), starring the celebrated British actor Sean Connery, this genre proved extremely popular with audiences worldwide.

It may well be that the promise held by this mix of suspense and action is what tempted director Sherif Arafa to make Welad Al-Amm (Cousins) -- currently on show.

Article’s Link:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/977/cu2.htm

Note:

The Arabic society’s goal is to team up against the enemy politically. Their main concern in to show one another what action they must take for such a serious issue. The Egyptian society had and still having the courage to express themselves in telling stories, writing scripts and making movies that explains the rights of the victims and their roles against the enemies or ways of defeating them

Posted by:

Sarah Shalaby