Pitfalls of political film

The Baby Doll Night is an intriguing example of an Egyptian political film gone badly awry, writes Hani Mustafa

Political events often influence artistic productions, and commercial filmmaking is no stranger to the use of a political atmosphere. Many films became box office hits during the Cold War, for example, by importing the paraphernalia of the conflict, the James Bond series being just one example. Similarly, Francis Ford Coppola used events from the Vietnam War in his film Apocalypse Now, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1979 and Best Picture at the Oscars in 1980.

However, while many films use political events as background material or even as the subject of the script, few of these films are appreciated for their artistic merit. Political events are not lacking in the Arab world, and directors have long tried to make films referring to them, with greater or lesser degrees of success. Today, the most important political events are taking place in Palestine and Iraq, and these two countries have naturally drawn the attention of film directors worldwide.

The Italian comedian and director Roberto Benigni's film The Tiger and the Snow, for example, deals with the war in Iraq through the story of an Italian poet who receives a phone call from an Iraqi friend, telling him that his ex-wife, a volunteer for the Red Cross, has been injured during the US-led invasion. A characteristic mixture of romance and black comedy, the film takes place sometime after the events of April 2003 and depicts the poet's journey to save his ex- wife, whom he still loves. While the film does not present the politics of the Iraqi situation directly, it nevertheless shows politics as forming the backdrop to the story. It received many awards in Italy, but was less well received internationally.

Another film taking the US-led invasion of Iraq for material is Laylet Suqout Baghdad (The Night Baghdad Fell), made three years ago by the Egyptian director and scriptwriter Mohamed Amin. This film is also a comedy, in fact coming quite close to being a fantasy, in which the headmaster of an Egyptian secondary school fears that after the US has finished the invasion of Iraq it will turn its attention to Egypt. He therefore asks a gifted former student for help in warding off the feared US invasion, asking him to work on a weapon that can deflect it. While the film is no doubt enjoyable on the level of satire, its political reflections are strictly those of an overheated teenager.

Another recent Arab film that has taken war in the region as a subject is Khaled Youssef's Heen Maysara, completed last year, in which the Gulf war is shown as part of the backdrop to individual lives. The brother of the main character in this film is shown working in Iraq, and the state security forces are shown hunting for him following accusations that he was a member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and is attempting to form a cell in Cairo.

However, more up to date than either of these productions is Baby Doll Night, which is currently on release in Egypt's cinemas. This film, produced by Good News Productions and costing around LE 50 million, is based on a screenplay by the late Abdel-Hay Adib, father of the head of the production company, and it is directed by another of his sons, Adel Adib.

Baby Doll Night is an Egyptian film touching on political issues, this time dealing with what happened between 11 September 2001, the explosion that took place in Palestine after 28 September 2001, and the US-led invasion of Iraq. The film thus ties together political events taking place around the Arab world something in the way that the Oscar-winning American film Syriana did in 2005.

Article’s Link:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/905/cu2.htm

Note:

Proposes of these Egyptian production is to open our eyes to things we have never seen or heard about the Arab nation and its struggle. By producing high budgeted movies with great propagandas, our society of all ages could know better about what’s been going on and make them think in a righter way.

Posted by:

Sarah Shalaby