REVIEWS
After The Battle Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan
Yousry Nasrallah probes Egyptian society during the heated and heady days of last year’s revolution in Tahrir Square in After The Battle, a thinly dram- atised vehicle for Nasrallah and his co-writer Omar Schama to air some fervid domestic debates. Opting to funnel the polemic through the cen-
tral character of Rim, a middle-class Cairo adver- tising executive turned impassioned NGO activist, and Mahmoud, an impoverished horse-rider from the Giza Pyramid village of Nazlet, Nasrallah never manages to lift his characters out of the plot schematic, despite a generous running time. The result is a flatly shot mash-up of politics
and drama that run side-by-side and are often individually interesting but never connect con- vincingly. While After The Battle could find enthu- siastic audiences at home in Egypt and other interested parties in the Arab world and diaspora (in particular co-production territory France), it will face tougher challenges outside that arena. Nasrallah’s central thrust is to drive the plight
of an ignorant villager and his limited world into the heated debate of Tahrir Square — which hap- pened when the forces of now-deposed President Hosni Mubarak convinced some Nazlet villagers to race their animals through protestors in what became known as ‘The battle of the camel’. The fictional Mahmoud (Samra) is one of those
COMPETITION
Fr-Egy. 2012. 125mins Director Yousry Nasrallah Production companies Siecle Productions, Studio 37, New Century, Dollar Film, France 3 Cinéma International sales MK2,
www.mk2.com Producers Walid El Kordy, Georges-Marc Benamou Screenplay Yousry Nasrallah, Omar Schama Cinematography Samir Bahsan Editor Mona Rabi Production designer Mohamed Atteya Main cast Menna Chalaby, Bassem Samra, Nahed El Sebai, Salah Abdallah, Phaedra
villagers, now shamed for his actions and dealing with the consequences. Bringing divorced, bour- geois Cairo hothead Rim (Chalaby) into contact with him, however, has forced Nasrallah and Schama into gymnastic plot contortions, resulting in the creation of Rim’s veterinarian friend Dina (Phaedra) who works for an NGO providing feed for animals, including Mahmoud’s beloved horse. One kiss in the bushes later, and Rim is all but
setting up shop in Nazlet, counselling Mahmoud’s wife Fatma (El Sebai), sorting out their sons’ prob- lems at school, and organising a horse-rider’s union — none of which goes down well with vil- lage strongman Haj Abdallah (Abdallah). Nasrallah bounces interesting ideas around his
film, but few gain any real traction. Sections deal- ing with the role of women in this turbulent era in Egypt recall the more impactful and tightly focused Cairo 678, though the juxtaposition of the wall built in Nazret to keep the villagers away from the pyramids with the Cairo protests and Rim’s urban lifestyle is strong. Of the actors, Samra (The Yacou- bian Building) is effortlessly convincing while Chalaby has a tougher character to make sense of. Production values here are adequate, with Nasral- lah and cameraman Samir Bahsan turning in solid, no-frills work. Music is applied lightly.
SCREEN SCORE ★★
n 18 Screen International at Cannes May 18, 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100