Sheikh Jackson

The film is complete work casting direction Montague everything was prefect every actor was suitable for his role or we can say that actors made themselves perfect for their roles maged was the best actor in this show malek showed a confused teenage escaping from his empty life and his cruel father trying to find hims self in music and dancing fishawy wasn't able to present best he can the role was very short that i until the end and after end couldn't understand what happen after this his transform the film was a good chance but the writer couldn't make best use of it

Loved everything from the plot itself to the acting to the visuals

Remarkable acting (puts Hollywood/New York to their robotic shame) for this Egyptian produced story of a young boy growing up in 1990s Alexandria, Egypt, and starting out fascinated with Michael Jackson's music & dance (as probably most of the world was). He faces stern (mildly put) control by his father to become an educated devout real man. The movie juxtaposes that experience with his current life as an Iman leading prayers at his mosque. There is dissonance within him as he remembers his youth of dance & music, but under Qur'anic precept loving life is a sin at risk of losing an eternity with God. So, MJ within this person is the fulcrum/tool/vehicle by which the battle between Western culture and Muslim culture is fought.

Since I started watching movies when I was 10 years old, I've kept a collection of movies on my hard drive. Each movie I loved or thought was worth my time, I'd add to my hard drive. The list is almost at 25 movies now, and today, Sheikh Jackson earned a spot on it. The first non-English movie to enter that list so far.

I can't promise anything but I'll try to keep the spoilers minor in what's to come.

We start our journey with our Sheikh(who has no first name as far ahead as the mid-end of the movie) in a dream. Basically, a dream that paints us half the picture of our protagonist. He fears death, not only because it's, you know, Death, but because it means that his chance to improve his good-standing with god is gone. And so we start at the depth of our character and continue exploring it outwards.

Later, we get to catch glimpses of his childhood, and adolescence. Both well-acted and well-written. We witness the emotional traumas he goes through during these periods and how they made him what he is today. El-Kedwany plays a master-class part in portraying the child and adolescent Sheikh's father. He joins both abusive and preaching characteristics in a well-developed character.

To steer off giving any major spoilers, of what I think is a movie not just about a story or some events, I will just give a final opinion of what I saw the main character as. He is a very religious man, though not a fanatic. A good man, albeit flawed and haunted. A sad man, an imprisoned man, although with no warden but himself.

I really liked the story and the concept of Sheikh Jackson. It's a daring film with a bold approach, exploring the tension between deep religious faith and personal identity. That kind of theme is not something you often see in cinema from this region, and it made the film stand out for me.

What's remarkable is how the film treats this inner conflict with empathy. It doesn't mock religion, nor does it glamorize rebellion. Instead, it presents a deeply human experience - the struggle of reconciling who we once were with who we are expected to become.

I think Ahmed El-Fishawy gave a really strong performance. You can feel his confusion, guilt, and longing without him needing to say much. That internal conflict inside him was powerful and believable.

But here's where things started to fall apart for me - the way the film tried to balance realism with surreal, dreamlike moments didn't quite work. The hallucinations of Michael Jackson, which were supposed to show how haunted the character is by his past, felt a bit cheap and awkward. Instead of adding depth, those moments broke the immersion.

Another issue I had was with the way the story developed, especially toward the end. It felt like there were missing justifications, excuses, or reasons - the viewer is almost forced to fill in those gaps, rather than being shown naturally through the story.

So for me, the biggest weakness was in the directing - the translation of what was written into visuals and scenes didn't always land. The emotional core was strong, but the way it was presented on screen didn't fully support it.

Still, I admire the film for what it tried to do. It was brave.