Le chaos

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...

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.

With the combined power of Youssef Chahine's fearless guts, and Khaled Youssef's spectacular narrative style, "Heya Fawda" can only be perceived as a cinematic up-boost to Egyptian Cinema. Both directors reveal their touches in this socio-political story, by addressing wide-spread concerns in Egyptian society, yet through a moving drama, manipulated by a story-line that contradicts the pessimistic perception of Egyptians as passive and manipulated by the dominance of corruption and oppression.

The plot takes us through the different desires of life, starting from power and self-fulfillment, to love and its different forms ranging from the innocence of virginity, to the sadistic extreme of possession. Nonetheless, it contemplates the definition of a villain by arousing paradox feelings in regards to societal and psychological changes driven by one's background, loss, and deprivations, and the justification to those ends. The film portrays society in its turning points... From a psychoanalytical retrospect, Hatem, resembling Darwin's child who lives their entire life oppressed by the fear of castration and is driven by his lust for such needs until they erode even the purest of his sentiments, pushing him into society's greatest evils. However, the political implications of Hatem's character run beyond that to reveal the part of society that is reluctant to change; that by which the darkness of capitalism have disrupted forever and turned everything in it into "chaos". On the other hand, Nour and Cherif's characters reveal the future, or the dream of one... They both live the nightmare and are poisoned by the same water, yet they rise upon that and raise their voices higher than the pollution eating up the hopes of an improved tomorrow... Even when they're at their utmost break, they find a way to fight the havoc and see a glimpse of justice and light to the fatal incidents that dominate their lives, or in the bigger picture, society.

There is no doubt that Chahine and Youssef's merging together, brings out the best in them. "Heya Fawda" is one of the few Arabic movies that are reluctant to the melodramatic exaggerations, which turn the film into an obnoxious experience that offends the viewers' intelligence; nonetheless, the deep metaphors give a further meaning to this multi-genre movie making it almost complete. The film is rather a documentary encapsulating passion, suspense, politics, drama, and psychoanalysis in a few hours; it is simply the "Egyptian Society" uncovered.

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.

'Chaos' is a simple but motivating film which not only gives us a glimpse of life in the busy city of Cairo in Egypt but also unwraps the supposed corruption that has infected law and order. The movie shows that the law enforcers can't abuse and twist the law for their own selfish purposes forever and that the strength of the people shall always bring down those who oppress the people.

The movie has displayed some amazing talent in Khaled Saleh "Hatem". The story shows how monsters like him get created. Although, there is considerable room for improvement both in the story and the acting, overall the performances are good and honest.

Do watch this good-defeats-evil movie not just for the story but for the overall great performances and its setting in the sultry city along the Nile.