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sarahmdorra
Reviews
El-Maslahah (2012)
Expected more from Nashaat
After four years since her Transit Prisoner, Sandra Nashaat is back with a new feature that, though undeniably good, is not as good as a Sandra Nashaat film should be. The Benefit (El Maslaha) stars a fair number of big names most notably Salah Abd-Allah and Nihal Anbar as well as, of course, Ahmed El Sakka and Ahmed Ezz as leading characters.
The Benefit tells the story of a long-time struggle between the police and drug dealers, a struggle that gets deeper and fiercer when it moves to the personal level. Also, the fact that the general atmosphere of the film is colored with black comedy makes it very much similar to Sheriff Arafa's The Island (El Gezira), though the latter is far better in terms of plot development, performances and Arafa's employment of black comedy.
Based on a true story, the film is shot in documentary style. Following the same style of several recent films such as Lars von Trier's Melancholia, The Benefit is filmed with a hand-held camera. I can't find another interpretation to this except to add a sense of credibility. As for the blurred picture and the unclear sound throughout the film, these I can find no explanation to.
Performances, on the other hand, varied greatly. From the very early moments of the film, we get an idea of how Ahmed Ezz's performance will be like. Ezz has the potentials to become a better actor but the problem with him is, no matter what role he's playing, he remains Ahmed Ezz – the person he plays always lack the small details which distinguish every person from the other. Almost the same could be said of Hanan Turk who has an innocent look that could be traced in all the characters she plays. Ahmed El-Sakka, on the other hand, is fascinating as Hamza, flexibly developing with the development of his round character. However, most of the good performances in the film were given by the minor characters supporting the leading one, most importantly Salah Abd-Allah, Nihal Anbar, Mohammed Faraag and Khaled Saleh.
It's a bit unclear what Nashaat wants to say in The Benefit. In the beginning, I had started to think that the film is a celebration of the courage of Egyptian policemen and perhaps an attempt to make conciliation between them and the Egyptian civilians. But as incidents unfold, the film's neutral and objective tone start to show, making it difficult to decide if Nashaat is merely telling a story that took place in real life or if she, in this way, is telling the Egyptian audiences all that they need to know about their police and leaves them to make their own judgment.
Regardless, it's unfortunate to say that I don't expect Nashaat's The Benefit to leave a print in the recent history of Egyptian cinema. However, I hope that her next feature would be as successful as Private Alexandria (which, in my opinion, is her best film so far). After all, one could not expect any less from such a great director as Nashaat is.
The Hunger Games (2012)
Not as violent as it should be
I finished reading The Hunger Games book trilogy three weeks before the Egyptian Revolution. Seeing what happened during the 18 days was like watching Suzanne Collins' books on screen. Until today, more than a year after the revolution, I believe The Hunger Games remains the closest work of fiction to the events of the revolution in Egypt. After all, it's about a game that the Capitol of Panem has started after the people made an uprising against it. The Hunger Games has 24 tributes but only one can win
and that's by surviving.
Violence, thus, is the keyword. It's the core of the world created by Suzanne Collins who mentioned in an interview that she got the idea of the books while watching footage of the US crimes in Iraq. On the other hand, Gary Ross's film adaptation did not survive the gleam of Hollywood. The result is unnecessary scenes of romance (which filled the theatre with giggles at its silliness) at the expense of core violent scenes, all for the sake of topping the box office.
Despite that, most of the performances were excellent. When fans of the book trilogy (me included) made their disagreement clear when she was first cast, Jennifer Lawrence replied that she will do her best, playing Katniss Everdeen. And she did. When it comes to other leading characters, Josh Hutcherson is no less good, though there should have been much focus on the character of Haymitch and the humorous side of it as well as the relationship he developed with Katniss and Peeta.
Of course it couldn't all fit in 2 hours and 8 minutes. However, this is no justification for the film's clear means to win the war to the top of the box office. But, in the end, the first book is my least favourite. The best is yet to come.
The Avengers (2012)
Surprisingly very good!
It was a surprise that I actually liked Marvel's The Avengers. My expectations were a film about a bunch of superheroes exercising their powers for the sheer amusement of the comic-book fans. Indeed, I was right about the exercise of power (naturally enough) but the way such showing-off was employed is what I like about the film. While, on the surface the events may seem to revolve about a group of mentally immature superheroes, there are several references to a deeper meaning, presented in a hilarious, light way with focus on both action and dialogue alike.
The undertone found in The Avengers has to do with the current universal trend of freedom and rebels. Loki makes it clear that his purpose is to fix the 'problem' which earth inhabitants have of misunderstanding the meaning of 'freedom' claiming they 'are made to be ruled'. Also, there is an indirect mention of fallen regimes, in general, and particularly the fall of the Soviet Union. Though this subject is not dealt with depth, it gives some weight to the light nature of the film. A film about superheroes is not expected to tackle serious issues but, at the same time, films whose main aim is to entertain the viewer should still not be an embodiment of triviality as is the case in many comedies of the last few years.
This is delivered through a balance between action and dialogue. The film is action-packed like a superhero film should be, though this does not come at the expense of dialogue; action sequences are supported by the amazing CGI (with a special nod to the resemblance between Dr Banner and the Hulk). Dialogue, similarly, plays an important role in the development of events and the relationship between the characters.
Wittily, this is coated with a fair amount of good humour. Though some jokes could be predictable, the spontaneity of the performances makes them, unarguably, funny. For example, towards the end, when Rogers is giving orders to policemen, what follows is pretty predictable but the spontaneity of the policeman made viewers laugh despite themselves. Non-verbal humour even mounts to a point when viewers clapped hard – when Dr Banner's 'other guy'shut Loki up with a slight movement of his huge arms.
Such elements gather, in the end, to make a film that, successfully, transcends the circle of comic-book fans, delivering one of the best films of the season.