L'autre

Twenty minutes after screening L'AUTRE at a film festival lately, I lost all hope it could be viewed as a serious film and began to see it for what it is- a tacky melodrama. More cliches are impossible to fit in (cyberspace, terrorism, Oedipus complexes, the works). If this is what Egyptian filmmaking is like, Mexican telenovelas are a a refined art form with nuanced acting. Worth seeing if only for the SHOCKING appalling experience of what passes off as brilliant filmmaking in North Africa. A total disgrace to the art form, and a total disgrace to Egypt, which has contributed too much to world culture to let this travesty represent the the state of its cinematic arts.

L'Autre (Al Akhar as we say it in Arabic) succeeded in attracting more people who were never big fans of Chahine's previous movies. But on the other hand, the majority of Chahine's fans didn't like the movie, or at least they said:"May be it is a good movie, but not Chahine's", and I am one of them. The characters in the movie are not deeply described, symbols used in each character are most of the times superficial. Fans of Chahine used to watch his movies to spend 2 hours of deep thinking and analysis, not only of the artistic way and the impressive mise-en-scene of Chahine - which were very good in l'Autre also - but also for the revolutionary ideas and the "Deep Diving" he used to make in his characters and the strong contradictions inside one character as well as between different characters. L'Autre was Me versus The Other, but this Me was not surely Me, and the other was too much the Other. And to understand this, just compare this Other with Chahine's Others in Salaadin 1956,and Adieu Bonaparte 1984. I was never a fan of Nabila Ebeid, but I have to admit she played a very good role. Mahmoud Hemeida was very good in a role that did not show most of his strong capabilities. Hani Salama made big progress from EL Massir.

Every time one watches the movie, it is as if you are seeing it for the first time because It's a very touching love story between Adam"the son of an American woman "and Hanan, a female journalist from a poor family.The story was great, the acting was great , the music was amazing and youssef chahine was great .Deserves more than 10. Love it. Adam and hanan ❤

This movie is one of the best romantic dramas and examples of political realism in the Middle East region. It discusses what is the meaning of terrorism and who is a terrorist, and who is the real terrorist. The movie shows how power can destroy the most beautiful things in the world. The movie is extremely intelligent and it has many interesting ideas. Every time one watches the movie, it is as if you are seeing it for the first time because you see additional layers of meaning in the movie.

The movie is a love story between Adam, the son of an American woman and an Egyptian man (who are married only for business reasons without love) and Hanan, a female journalist from a poor family. Adam studied human rights and terrorism. Hanan's brother is a member of a terrorist group. The movie explores how their life develops and grows after their marriage. The American woman becomes jealous on her son and doesn't want someone to take her son and wants to destroy their love story. It's a very touching love story and expresses much about the situation faced by poor Egyptians and gives the viewer lots of questions as to how people become terrorist and what leads a young guy to pursue this path.

Don't be fooled by appearances: the fact that this is an exotic entry from Egypt doesn't shield the fact that it's just a boy-meets-girl love story given heavier trappings. Adam is the son of a wealthy Egyptian-American family who is studying at UCLA and returns home for a brief vacation. Upon his arrival he meets beautiful reporter Hanane, with whom he begins an intense love affair, and eventually they marry. Trouble arises when Hanane' s journalistic interests lead her to the corrupt business affairs of Adam's parents, who are interested in building an American tourist compound that would allow Americans further control of Egypt's tourist industry, and make them a whole lot richer. The climactic ending of the film is the tragic result of the adults' selfish greed which manifests itself on their children. Not really inspiring in any way, the film does feature some colourful musical numbers and wry moments. Nabila Ebeid is excellent as Adam's hard-driven mother.