Omaret yakobean

The modern day Egypt is the main character of this epic. It seems to be a tumultuous place never sure if it wants to be in the West or East. The director of this interesting movie tackles quite a few controversial topics. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism, homosexuality, the poor treatment of women in contemporary Egyptian society, the rampant corruption, still powerful strict class system. Enough topics for a dozen movies, but the director somehow manages to pull it all together. Some of the story lines feel a bit rushed to its conclusion, but all in all an interesting glimpse at modern Arab world. Its people are like any other, scared and imperfect and a bit lost in the complexities of life.

What I like most about this movie is that it opens a window into an unknown world for me, that of relations between men an women in modern Egypt, and it does so in a style that is at the same time sumptuous an unfamiliar. People do things you wouldn't expect, despite the slightly heavy-handed handling of emotions. There are areas where the movie is not perfect: it is so highly pessimistic and denounces the greed and selfishness of Egyptian men with so much vigor that it appears somewhat simplistic. It does tend to ramble a bit. But the power and the humor of the movie (it is quite funny, despite being tragic) transcends all that and makes those minor faults. I understand the director is very young, so he will have ample time to overcome and transcend these youthful imperfections. I didn't like Slumdog Millionaire because it told me everything about India that I already knew: it feels like a package tour where you are shown the sites you expect to see, and are whisked from one location to another. For a western viewer, Omaret yakobean is like a journey where you land at the airport and are immediately carried away by the atmosphere, the culture shock, the bustling streets, the misunderstandings, from which you emerge with challenged assumptions and a wider view of the world.

January 2002. Alaa el Aswani's first novel, Omaret Yacoubian, is published. Within a few months, it has taken the Egyptian book world by Storm. And it's easy to know why. The book is almost exclusively about the 3 taboos in the Arab literature; Politics, Sex (Hetero and Homo), and Religion.

Fast forward to June 2006. Unless you've been living on another planet for the past 2 years or so, you must've heard of the movie adaptation of the book. Seriously, it was nearly impossible to escape the following headlines "Yacoubian is the biggest Egyptian film of all-time", "De Niro says the film is a masterpiece", "Yacoubian gets huge raves at Cannes", etc... In my opinion, that was one of the film's biggest problems; the filmmakers set the bar too high for themselves. So, I walked in expecting to see a breakthrough in film-making. What I got was a great, although flawed, film. So, I was somewhat disappointed.

I didn't like Wahid Hamed's adaptation of the book. The spirit of the novel is there, and the film is much more humorous, but unfortunately, that was it. Maybe because Hamed had to fit the script, so that the bigger stars get the bigger parts, all the secondary characters (Soaad, Dawlat, Malaak, etc...) ended up with almost no screen time. Therefore, these characters came off as 2 dimensional and their actions didn't make a lot of sense. For example, in the book, Soaad is almost a beggar. She constantly asks her friends and relatives for money. In the film, she's a middle class secretary. That's why I never understood why she would agree to be separated from her own son, and marry an older man just for some cash. Another example would be how someone came out of nowhere to kill off one of the main characters.

Director Marawan Hamed did a great job. Yacoubian is his first full-length feature, but he helmed it like a veteran. His camera moved smoothly, his cuts were all in the right places, and he shined in the large-scale (protest, training, and shootout) scenes. I'm really looking forward to his next picture.

Adel Emam (Zaki el Dessouky) was amazing. His turn (his best in ages) was funny yet heartfelt. Khaled Saleh (Kamal el Fouli) and Khaled el Sawy (Hatem Rashid) were also great. In fact, I think Mohamed Emam (Taha el Shazly) was the only cast member who gave a so-so performance. Anyway, he's still a newbie (this is his first film), so he'll probably give better performances in the future.

Yacoubian is one of the most expensive Egyptian films of all-time, and fortunately, the money is on the screen. The costumes, make-up and sets are all top-notch. Khaled Hammad's score was good, but I felt it was overly dramatic in some places (a full Orchsetra playing while 2 people are merely talking?)

So, I'd definitely recommend watching The Yacoubian Building. It's the best Egyptian film in quite some time, and with a better adaptation, it could have been a masterpiece.

This excellent black drama is a must see despite its nearly three-hour running time, the movie is one of the most watchable and enjoyable pieces of art in Egyptian Cinema.

I didn't read the story before seeing that controversial movie, so I had low expectations. But despite that, got hooked as early as the quality intro that takes you smoothly through an enjoyable ride to discover the background behind that nostalgic building in central Cairo through a Sepia short clip.

The film is an artistic black drama which is full of cultural and political symbolism if you read carefully between the lines, my interpretation is that the building is a clear symbol of the country itself and how it transformed dramatically from the nostalgic early days of the 40s till the present day, shedding light on the price that the Egyptian society had to pay during that rough trip, and how the society has clear double standards that everyone is trying to ignore.

Every side story evolves in a different direction and involves controversial characters who are linked only by the same building (society) in someway or the other, the different stories are interweaves in an artistic way to dramatise different controversial issues and taboos from adultery, political corruption, homosexuality to Islamic fundamentalism.

The movie has a general sad feel around it especially for anyone who lived in Egypt as it touches on the deterioration and many negative issues that are becoming more and more the norm in most Egyptian society levels that was once a conservative and religious society. It is strong wakeup call to those who love their country to stop burying their heads in the sand when it comes to double standards that's affecting everyone in the society making everyone feel inferior to the country. The story will make you think deeply about how and why a country like Egypt could end up where it is today.

The cinematography, steady cams, crane camera movement is brilliant, the smooth cuts and soft transitions boosts the romantic dimension of the storyline. As expected, the music score by Khaled Hammad is expressive, romantic and adds a lot of depth to many scenes. The tempo of the movie is just right, giving enough time for actors to express their feelings through longer than usual shots that will never leave you bored. Action scenes are also very well done.

A must see piece of art for anyone who is living or used to live in Egypt.

"The Yaboubian Building" reminded me of those over-heated Spanish soap operas that air nightly on Telemundo. The sweep and size of the film (not to mention its length) may fool people into thinking it's a more important picture than it actually is, when really it's not much more than one big soapy melodrama that manages to stay mostly entertaining over the course of its three hours.

There's a lot going on in this film, and you may find you have your work cut for you just following the basics of the plot. I suspect much more of the film would have made sense to me had I known more about Egyptian culture. As it is, there are a lot of terms and situations in the film that probably didn't have their full desired effect. Of course, it's tough as an American, and therefore one used to experiencing art that throws critical darts at my country's beliefs and institutions, to fully understand how controversial this film (and the book on which it is based) has been in Egypt. By all accounts, the frank candour about corrupt government, homosexuality and the prostitution of Egyptian citizens (of all types and at all levels of society) have been greeted with quite an uproar in this film's country of origin. It's a noble effort on the part of the film-makers, and I can understand them wanting to pack in as much punch as they can, but the film tries to do too much, and the plot feels like several different agendas unsuccessfully unified into a coherent whole.

Much of "The Yacoubian Building" is no less ham-fisted than your typical Hollywood film, not the least of which are the scenes that explain outright the film's central metaphor (the Yacoubian building itself as a representation of Egyptian society). But much of it works quite well too, especially the acting, which is pretty good across the board, the crisp pacing and the driving musical score.

A big bold movie that bites off more than it can chew but provides a solid few hours of entertainment nonetheless.

Grade: B+