The Blue Elephant

Ahmed Mourad's The Blue Elephant novel has been a hit in Egypt and Arab world with a huge amount of controversy among readers from all levels of knowledge, culture and interest. Swinging between the spread success and all the criticism it faced due to the massive attraction of many readers, It managed to be always on headlines between people and of course at every book store and now it made it through to the big screen.

Marwan Hamed, one of Egypt finest directors made good choices of the actors and the settings of the scenes. The shooting seemed nice and smooth in most scenes, a bit fair and out of balance in few but mainly it went mostly good.

All actors Kareem, Nelly and the others were mostly on form giving their good performance except of Khaled El Sawy whose performance was exceptional.

The characters on screen appeared close to the author description in shape and behavior. The stylist must have studied and understood the characters well enough to apply that with such a success on their looks.

Until then the movie was going to be just Good, But it needed a sparkle to make it a Great movie according to the standards of Egyptian and Arab cinema production and driving it a step forward to the International standards.

The sparkle came from VFX team with the DOP who both did a great job reflecting Mourad's toughest scenes of the novel into a visual reality with professional touches by Hamed.

Some side notes about the dialogue, shooting and supporting characters cannot ruin the good work has been done by all the crew.

I have always had a big objection about the story ending, but for now I may leave that to myself and enjoy watching an Egyptian cinema production with such professionalism and high standards.

it's not perfect - like anything will never be - yet it's a big step forward that we should applaud and keep our Self-flagellation on Pause!

This type of genre is nothing new In American movies but In the Egyptian cinema it's quite a surprise. The beginning of the film Is something seen in many films about someone accused of murder and being checked by a psychiatrist. The ironic thing is that the doctor whose job is to treat the mentally insane is messed up just as much as his patients. and even though this doctor seems to destroy everything he touches,you still feel that there is hope left In him. What happens after that is very hard to explain, it can only be seen . and that's what's special about this film,it's visually entertaining . The story ending might be strange and you might have many questions unanswered. but good films usually leave you wondering like that. Very good cast and amazing direction. And as was said in the film there's a fine line between what's real and what's not and what makes you want to cross that line Is curiosity. Egyptian cinema Is back to life with this film.

After reading the book for many times and watching the trailers for dozens of times, finally watched the much anticipated movie at the theater.

The movie is a masterpiece that's not only as amazing as the novel, but also completes and answers a lot of mystic questions in the mind of the readers.

The cast were amazing, they literally did it the way you visualize it in your mind while reading novel.

The music was great and well implemented, specially at the dream part.

Cinematography was the first time to see in an Arabic movie, though it's well known since movies like 300 and Sherlock Holmes.

A lot of people are wondering does the movie really deserve this score on IMDb, the answer is, compared to our Arabic movies, YES it deserves a 12, although for on international basis, the movie could be 7.5

At last, whether you read the book or not, you will get what your are bargaining for.

Literally everyone I know that watched this film kept pushing me into watching it. claiming it is some sort of a cinematic achievement. I don't think it is bad, but seriously Egyptians and Indians need to stop over-rating movies made by their countries. They're driven by a sense of patriotism that I cannot understand, which usually leads to many unfair ratings like the 8.2 in the blue elephant. I was impressed with the cinematography but I did not appreciate the slow motion scenes. Also the background music was strongly unrelated in some scenes. The overall emphasis on alcohol addiction seemed like an exaggeration to me and the pacing of the story is all over the place. still, this might be one of the best Egyptian movies I have seen and is an exciting new approach in Egyptian cinema. I enjoyed it but it doesn't belong anywhere near the 8 category.

i really loved the movie i have read the novel about 2 years ago and i was waiting for the movie to come up i thought i am gonna get disappointed from the movie because this type of movie never been done in Egypt and the crew is young but there was one insuring thing that Ahmed mourad whose gonna write the movie it was excellent really enjoyed the movie and the length of the movie is perfect its filled with thriller and makes you think what is gonna to happened next takes your attention you wanna listen to every word so focused in it really it gives example to producers that good script and good stories always succeed. the best movie in the last 4years in Egypt.