drama - Page 19 of 26

Asmaa (Egypt)

Asmaa Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Can you imagine a place where TV adverts about HIV/AIDS show scary images of bats, blood, drugs, and prostitutes? Well, you don’t have to. Egypt actually showed these adverts. In Asmaa director Amr Salama challenges the social prejudice towards HIV/AIDS suffers. Watch this film to learn about the limitations of being a HIV/AIDS patient and a woman in Egypt.

Why Watch Asmaa?

Follow the life of a woman with HIV battling against social prejudice in Egypt
Watch the film here on YouTube to start your adventure into Egyptian film
Experience a bit of life in Cairo and the country surrounding the capital

The Breakdown

First of all, it is important to know that there is a bit social stigma around the HIV positive in Egypt. The director, Amr Salama, states:

“In Egypt we think it’s a punishment from God and we should not treat it. We think that they get it from a sin so they deserve it, and we think it’s very contagious so we don’t deal with them in any way. So people die from that more than they die from anything else. “

Asmaa starts in a small HIV group, a bit like an alcoholics anonymous group. The director cuts between the group talking and scenes in a hospital. We find out that our protagonist Asmaa has HIV and was denied hospital treatment because of it.

Asmaa is a do it all mother. She looks after her father, her daughter, whilst working shifts at the airport. Through flash backs to her former life, we learn how she caught HIV and her former dreams. Her flashbacks are shown in golden colours which contrast with the dreary blue and grey filter that depicts her current life and her visits to the hospital. It is obvious she wishes to recapture the dreams of her early life with her former husband.

Conclusion

Asmaa is an important tale based on the true stories of many HIV/AIDS suffers that Salama met when filming a documentary before he filmed Asmaa. The film reveals the plight of women in Egypt as well as the social prejudice against HIV/AIDS patients. It challenges the controversial portrayal of HIV/AIDS in Egypt by putting you in the shoes of a strong woman coping with the disease.

After the Battle (Egypt)

After the Battle Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Like me, you may have heard of the Arab Spring (2011) and the protests at Tahir Square in Cairo (documented on Netflix’s The Square). But do you know what happened afterwards? After the Battle explores the aftermath so you can see how life has changed (or stayed the same) since the Arab Spring. Ignore the bad reviews (yes, the film is a little bit cheesy in parts) and go watch it!

For all those not sure – check out the first 45 seconds of this trailer (then turn it off unless you want spoilers!)

Why Watch After the Battle?

To learn about the political climate and quality of life in Egypt following the Arab Spring in 2011
Explore gender politics and class structure in Egpyt – lots to discuss!
It’s not hard to watch – it has the tone of a TV series so all of you can watch it without getting lost in any pretentiousness
For a great post-Arab Spring viewing companion to Asmaa

The Breakdown

On February 2nd 2011, Tahir Square protestors were attacked by camel and horse riders from the pyramids. This event became known as the Battle of the Camels. Footage of the event shows horse and camel riders riding into protestors armed with whips (and nothing else). One of the riders falls off of his horse and is beaten by the protestors.

Mahmoud is the rider who falls from his horse in the Battle of the Camel. He is a poor horse rider from Nazlat (a suburb of Cairo near the Pyramids) who made his living from tourists. However, a great wall was built to separate the horse riders from the tourists, so he no longer has a job. He has to rely on the ‘good-will’ of his relative/local boss to get by. He is the one who lets him and his family live in their house and provides them with a little income when needed. Mahmoud represents the lower classes that were not represented in the Arab Spring, that have continued to be exploited by their ‘superiors’.

Rim is the woman we follow throughout the film. She is a liberal middle-class woman and a strong activist for the Arab Spring. She is marginalised just like Mahmoud. However, instead of class prejudice, she experiences sexism. After being groped whilst protesting, she is told that the place for a woman is at home, not on the streets. However, her revolutionary ideas meet a challenge when she meets Mahmoud – her antithesis.

Conclusion

Another interesting exploration of Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring (also see Asmaa). The film tries to cover a lot, from gender politics to class, but ultimately manages to cover it all without appearing vague.

Lupe Under the Sun (Lupe Bajo El Sol) – London Film Festival 2016

Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Lupe Under the Sun features an ageing migrant worker from Michoacan working in California’s Central Valley. It deals with the vagueness of migrant identity – is Lupe Mexican or American? Or both and neither at the same time? The director, Rodrigo Reyes, shows migration to be both an inspired act of hope and a frightening leap into the unknown.

Why Watch Lupe Under the Sun?

For a timely look at the life of a lonely migrant worker in the U.S. a group verbally assaulted by Trump
To see an old man riding a tricycle
Step in somebody else’s shoes – take a walk through the eyes of an immigrant worker in an unfamiliar environment which you call home
What does it mean to not belong?

The Breakdown

The film starts with a narration by Lupe’s grandson as Lupe walks through arid landscape and orchards.

He says that his grandfather told him a secret; that he was going to America to paint a really big house that will take him a long time. He won’t be back for some time, because he has to keep painting.

Does Lupe really belong here? He doesn’t talk to anyone, except one scene where he is gambling around a small table with two other guys. He doesn’t answer his girlfriend, he mumbles back to the doctor, and doesn’t make any effort to start any conversation. His lack of dialogue emphasises his lack of belonging and identity. He has no friends and no one he cares about in the Central Valley. He has no reason to stay where he is or go home.

Furthermore, his days are occupied by ritual. He wakes up at 4am each morning, cooks his eggs, showers, and shaves his moustache before he gets picked up to go pick fruit. Each day we are shown this same ritual emphasised by fixed shots of the alarm clock, the cooking hob, and the kitchen sink. The repeated shots emphasise the mundaneness of Lupe’s life – is he brave for sticking out this monotone life? His only joy seems to come from riding his tricycle around town.

Why is Lupe living here? Why doesn’t he go back to Mexico where he might feel a little more belonging? Lupe is symbolic of the ‘no-man’s land’ of migrant identity – he is both the man of his past life in Mexico and the man of his present in the U.S. Pick this one for a quiet night in to watch with someone else – watching it alone might make you question your loneliness.

Mardan (Iraq) – A Sombre Film Set in Kurdish Iraq

Mardan Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Most of you know that Iraq has had one of the most traumatic modern histories. But when you think of why, you’d probably think of the Iraq War. So when I tell you this is a sombre Iraqi film you’d also probably think that it is about the Iraq War. But you’d be wrong. Unlike Ahlaam, Mardan is set in Kurdish Iraq, and follows the traumatic life of a border patrol guard.

Why Watch Mardan?

To see a Kurdish Iraqi film (for an Arabic Iraqi film, check out Ahlaam)
If you are up for a solemn (but well made) movie
To see the beautiful and wild mountain scenery of Iraq
For another story with a traumatic childhood (which reminded me of the Kosovan short film Shok)

The Breakdown

Mardan starts with an extreme close up of half a man’s face. The camera is focused on one of the man’s watery eyes. He is crying.

A traumatic flashback to his childhood shows us why he is crying. It should be an innocent memory of him and his brother playing by the river. But some military men raped and killed his brother, giving him a burden he has had to carry for his whole life.

Surprisingly, the introduction is the only place where the military is shown, apart from the border patrol. Instead, the film focuses on Mardan and how he deals with his harrowing childhood memory. He doesn’t seem like the nicest guy – he accepts bribes and appears pretty grumpy, but the film implies that his background is to blame for this.

His only shot at redemption is by helping a family find their relative. But don’t expect a Hollywood ending. This film is more about the journey and character development than any climactic ending.

Conclusion

Mardan is not the film you want to watch after a long day at work. It is solemn and does not offer any respite. It is a well made film, but you’d only want to watch it if you want to see a bit of life in Kurdish Iraq, some Iraqi scenery, or if you are into sombre films.

Veve (Kenya) – Corruption and Extortion in Kenyan Politics

Veve Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Drugs, corruption, and extra-marital affairs feature in this Kenyan thriller centred around a macho politician. If you’re looking for excitement, danger, and a token white guy, this film is for you. Check it out here on Netflix.

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Why Watch Veve?

To meet one of Kenya’s ‘Big Men’
Learn what Veve is (known elsewhere as Khat)
For a token white guy
See how to defeat unions and oppress farmers

The Breakdown

People picking trees, leaves filling sacks, sacks thrown onto trucks, money changing hands… Veve starts with some quick cuts showing the distribution of veve from the trees it grows on to Kenya’s cities. Along the way it passes through a bunch of middle men and check points. You’ll also see money changing hands a few times along the way, but who does the money end up with?

The next scene reveals the prime candidate behind the drug-trafficking. Meet Amos, a local member of parliament campaigning to become governor of the region. Judged on first impressions, he’s a friendly husband who is popular in the region he is campaigning to govern. However, there’s more to Amos that meets the eye.

Simply put, he’s the prototype of the macho African ‘big man’ politician.

Firstly, you’ll see how he uses intimidation to try and guarantee votes. He tries to extort local businessmen as well as threaten farmers to vote for him. Secondly, you’ll witness his machismo. The director intentionally shows him criticise his wife for buying scented body lotion and chide his secretary for playing kid’s puzzles. Just in case that’s too subtle, he’s also cheating on his wife. He’s not a nice man.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

By giving Amos the characteristics of the ‘big man’ politician the director uses Amos to critique the power hungry men in Kenyan politics. It’s a subtle warning carried in a thrilling film well worth watching.

If you want to see more African ‘big men’ on screen, check out Last King of Scotland, a political thriller with Forrest Whitaker playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Or if you want to see African films with more violence and corruption, check out Beasts of No Nation featuring kid soldiers in an unnamed African country. You can also check out the living perpetrators of the Liberian Civil War in Fragment 53.