Political Documentation and Religious Symbolism: The Arabic film Dokan Shehata
A Review of Director Khaled Youssef’s latest blockbuster, starring Amr Saad, Amr Abdel Gelil, Mahmoud Hemeida, Ghada Abdel El Razek & Haifaa Wahbi.
Despite the stir that was caused by the singing world’s sex
icon Haifaa Wahbi’s appearance in director Khaled Youssef’s
latest film ‘Dokan Shehata’, the film has little to do with the
controversial singer.
In fact, through unusual storytelling techniques, Youssef is trying to paint a picture of what he perceives as an obvious deterioration amid the Egyptian Society’s morality across the span of approximately forty years.
Like his previous film ‘Heen Maysara’, Youssef again comes together with scriptwriter Nasser Abdul Rahman and producer Kamel Abu Ali, bringing to the screen a tragic, epic-like tale of a fallen hero in draught times.
Borrowing from the religious narrative of Prophet Youssef and his relations with his resentful brothers, Khaled Youssef weaves the tale of Shehata, the son of a gardener who opens a grocery store and names it after his youngest son, much to the disappointment of his older brothers.
Through the siblings rivalry and the unrealized love story between Shehata (Amr Saad) and Beesa (Haifa Wahbi) the director reflects on the realism of Egyptian Society ever since former president Anwar Sadat's 1981 assassination, through the Mubarak era up till 2005, when Egypt witnessed its first multiple elections, moving beyond the present to the year 2013 to foresee Egypt after the next presidential elections. The movie is a popular epic, similar to the tale of Abu Zeid El Helaly.
It does not adhere to the usually used rational form of movies dealing with social and political content. In the film, Youssef
introduces himself again as a "Nasserist" who thinks that Sadat was assassinated because of his retreat from the principles of the 1953 Revolution. Youssef also embraces the idea that the failures of the Mubarak presidency are largely due to his continuation of Sadat’s policies.
On the technical level, Youssef uses lighting very well to set the mood for his piece with director of photographer Ayman Abu El Makarem. These are all the elements of a good movie. Film editor Ghada Ezz Eddin played the main role in creating the world of the movie but the sound mix was not good, and I felt that the folk songs used in the film were somehow misplaced as they could have given a greater effect if they were put in other places throughout the motion picture.
On the acting level, there seemed to be a fierce competition as the film was loaded with talented actors and actresses, mainly the lead man Amr Saad who is now being regarded as Egypt’s next Ahmed Zaki. His honest portrayal of the vulnerable yet integral Shehata is truly amazing. Also shining were Amr Abdel Gelil as beesa’s brother Karam the hooligan and Ghada Abdel Razik, who for the first time does not play a leading role in a Khaled Youssef movie, and yet manages to excel playing Nagah, Shehata’s elder half-sister.
Mahmoud Hemeida and Abdul Aziz Makhyoun played outstanding roles in this movie. Both are mature actors who can direct their motion and performance. As for Haifa Wahbi, I will only give her kudos for the effort she exerted to portray Beesa. But in truth it would be unconsidered if she chose acting as a sole profession.
In the end, whether you like it or not you have to agree that Khaled Youssef employed all the different elements at his disposal to set the pessimistic mood of living in a society that is very well on the verge of becoming the ideal dystopia.
