Heya fawda

Since EL MASEER (LE DESTIN), Chahine didn't present a powerful movie like this one, a movie add to the Egyptian cinema a respect and meaning lost after a lot of garbage and meaningless ''undeserved called movies'' , sure the movie had its falls but it isn't mean or that much.

Chahine choose to present the brilliant script by Nasser Abdel Rahman in melodrama style(no limits for emotions & events) as the drama style will tie the events and the speed of showing it ,it had to be done this way as u can't present (police brutality,corruption of the eduction system & the fall of the ethics) in a normal drama if u want to give this powerful feelings.

Every actor in this movie is at his/her top,Khaled Saleh give a magnificent performance in the rule of brutal police officer ''Hatem'' who love his neighbor ''Nour'' -played by Mena Shalaby- a young teacher with an unrequited love with Sheriff – played by Youssef EL Sheriff .

Khaled Youssef the longtime assistant for Chahine did a great job as the executive director as Chahine give him the helm cause of his health troubles.

This movie gives a powerful statement about the catastrophic period that the Egyptien society lives through the mean story and a lot of marks…for this reasons this movie deserve that u watch it with a full guarantee that u will watch an important, high level & powerful movie.

The movie describes the political issues at Egypt which need to change and the movie imagines that they are changed and solved .

Some people at Egypt count it as the best political movie at Egypt .

All the other reviews on this site seem to be delighted by this movie. I don't agree. Perhaps I was watching through western eyes, but it did not strike me as a good film.

The topic is very serious: corruption, police brutality, repression... I generally like movies about these things. So what is the problem? Well, everything has a steady Bollywood feel. The bad guys are soooo rotten. The good guys are simply angelic. Everyone on screen over-acts. And there is a subplot about some prostitutes which I would almost call exploitative. No real nudity, but almost.

This is my first Egyptian movie, and also the first one I saw by Chanine. I know that he is a renowned director and I intend to see more of his movies; I hope that the older ones are better...

the movie is really very amazing and gave people a background about what the police can do with people behind the closed doors but the disappointing on this movie are the scenes in the police station are more than what can happen in real life ,Khaled Saleh acted his role very very good ,Mena Shalaby her role was so beautiful and she done it very good ,Hala Fakher her role was impressive but she gave a funny scenes and she was a comedian woman ,Yossef El-Sheriff was very good in his role and Hala Sedki (Sherif's Mother) acted her role very nice like a mother who can take care about her son and choose the best girl to be his wife ,but by the way the movie is very good and in fact is the weakest CHAHIN movies ever

I saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Cannes Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award winner and longtime Egyptian director Youseff Chahine was in ill health toward the end of the filming of this picture thus the credit for Khaled Youssef as an additional director. The story takes place in modern day Cairo in a lower to middle class part of town called Shubra. Hatem (Khaled Saleh) is a tormented, sadistic, corrupt policeman who has the run of the local police station and the neighborhood. His weakness is an unrequited love for his neighbor, the beautiful Nour (Mena Shalaby). Nour is a schoolteacher at a nearby school and has her own unrequited love going for the handsome and kind District Attorney Sheriff (Youssef El Sheriff). Sheriff is unhappily in love with the beautiful Sylvia (Dorra Zarrouk) who is a drug taking, night clubbing, living in the fast lane, westernized opposite attraction to the straight-laced Sheriff. Nour shares an apartment with her mother Bahi (Hala Fakir) but also shares a mother-daughter relationship with her headmistress, the still beautiful Wedad (Hala Sedky) who is also Sheriff's mother. Wedad and Bahi share Nour's desire that someday Sheriff will drop Sylvia and marry Nour. It's a great cast with Khaled Saleh in a great screen role as the villainous and brutal Hatem. The Screenplay by Nasser Abdel Rahman is a little implausible at times but the over-the top story, direction and music seem to work. Cinematography by Ramsis Marzouk, Editing by Ghanda Ezz El Din and Music by Yasser Abdel Rahman. This plays well to a western audience and there are some nicely woven comedic moments to the film's dark and sobering moments. I would recommend this and give it an 8.0 out of 10.