L'autre

A very good romance between a prince and a unsubdued girl, so it is for a general public. "Le Destin" (1997) was better since it was more historical and the songs were really part of the film. But "L'autre" includes also a fair good critics of terrorism (in Algeria and in Egypt). So, if you've never seen a Chahine's film, see this one, before "Le Destin" and long for the next one.

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.

I am a big movie buff and have been watching great directors such as Bergman, Felini, Kuberik and see foreign movies on regular basis.

Yousef Chahine is one of the most talented directors today. His movie "The other" exhibits many of the shortcomings of Muslim cultures. The Meeting scene in the airport was brilliant and heartwarming. I loved Chahine's brilliant choice of playing Arabic music at the wedding. The attitude of the rich towards poor is very accurate and the character of Diana was so exemplary of most Westerners attitude and behavior in other countries. I have watched this movie many times and each time I love it more. Chahine tells it like it is and needs no apology or explanation because those who are true movie fans and understand other cultures and their issues appreciate his exposure regarding the Muslim men hitting their wives no matter how educated they are (and even raping them as seen in the movie). Most westerners do not realize that in many Muslim nations women are married young and their children become their obsession so the relationship portrayed was correct. The corruption shown is very true and most Americans are not aware of what American businessmen do in other countries and at what price. This movie gives a good portrayal of complexity of relationships in countries predominately Muslim (even though the main characters are Christian in this movie). I loved the one liner about Americans having trained the son who is a terrorist back from Afghanistan. The scenes showing women among the terrorists are another means to educate most people about the problem not being limited to having men terrorists. Take it from someone who knows movies and downs a large selection for Movies from around the world. Chahine is the Ingamr Bergman of our time, only better.

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.

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.