The Blue Elephant

Al-Pheel Al-Azraq (The Blue Elephant), a film based on the best-selling novel by Ahmed Mourad, is set to premiere in Egypt and several Arab countries,the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr holiday following the end of Ramadan.

Karim Abdel-Aziz, who returns to the big screen as a superstar in the film, expressed how satisfied he was with this production and said he was not surprised the Audience has shown such excitement about the film.

The film hit more than a bird with one stone, its scenario kept almost long-smart dialogs from the novel, let the characters to say and reveal their masks, the film kept all the exciting moments: A doctor returns to work in a psychiatric hospital after several years of the death of his family, throwing him to the section 8 West where there are murderers under observation, there he finds an old colleague accused of killing his wife, the doctor had a love affair with an old colleague, the sister of the accused, a doctor looking for the secret behind the crime while the plot shows us the possibility that the accused killer claim a mental illness, or the illness of the physician or the presence of a mysterious third party committed the crime across the body of the accused killer, Mixing not only between the science and what is ghostly, but the film managed to Show its characters the same degree it shows about the crime, this mixture is good and amazing because it is the most difficult choice for the writer. The film succeeded in showing most of novel's fantasies, The graphic scenes in the film is the best since graphic entered the Egyptian cinema, a global company specializing carried out the world of dreams and hallucinations, I never imagined when I read the novel to see Kareem Abdul-Aziz, to play the role of Yahya Rashid, difficult character and it was a real surprise, his role is the most difficult in my opinion because it does not depend on the apparent emotion , but convey all the time the feeling of fractures can not be healed, in his life only one and single hope, the story of an old love, Khaled El Sawy was fantastic ambiguous and double character, human being led by devil, Nelly Karim performance was quiet, simple and non-artificial. Thanks to The Blue Elephant and its talented makers. Mahmoud Abd El Shakour

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.

Al-Feel Al-Azraq, I've not been so attracted by an Arabic movie that much (That I actually went to see it on the big screen) in ages ! And I didn't regret it ! :D Where to start ! Great scenario, not one unnecessary line. Karim Abdel Aziz at the highest peak of his career, Khaled El Sawy with a literally LEGENDARY performance ! Soundtrack, montage, editing, effects, CGI, filming, directing...all are so professional, so PERFECT...that you'll enjoy every scene so much that you won't want it to end, because the picture is SO beautiful ! Even if nothing important is going on during the scene, and trust me, there's something important going on in every scene, the movie is very intense, very highly detailed ! Story line will keep consuming all your attention till the very end. About the ending, it won't match with every taste (biggest weak point in the movie.) That's why I gave it a 9/10. But hell, I'm so proud that this project is 100%ly Egyptian ! Restored the hope. :)

I really missed that kinda Shutter-Island feeling ! Go watch it !

first of all , there has been rumors that the movie has been copied from the tattooist , yes but not all of it ... this the best Egyptian film in the last decade ....but there are many flaws ...the visuals has also flaws ....this is the best performance ever done by Kareem abdelaziz ...Khaled elsawy was ordinary as well as Nelly Kareem ...the first act was slowly paced and wasn't even necessary , the second act was somehow good ..the third act is unbelievable and stunning ....the story has some of the Egyptian melodrama in the first act .. the movie is not complex as people may assume ..even the third act wasn't that much complex ...this movie needs support but also need criticism in order to reach for more improvement ...the movie is not in the Oscar level so it didn't deserve an Oscar nomination for best foreign film ...by the end we need to celebrate this film for its amazing story telling , visual effects , cinematography and directing which we have not seen in decades.

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!