Arab Spring drew attention to Egypt's autocratic government under Hosni Mubarak. Therefore, Marwan Hamed's "Omaret Yakobean" ("The Yacoubian Building" in English) turns out to be even more important. The movie depicts 21st-century Egyptian society as morally bankrupt, while also looking at topics that are usually taboo in Muslim societies (e.g., homosexuality).
I view the movie as sort of an Egyptian version of movies like "Amores Perros" and "Y Tu Mamá También", both of which show the degeneracy of Mexican society by looking at the different aspects of society. Here we see just about every problem that infects Egyptian society. Although the movie is a scathing indictment of what the most populous Arab country had become under Mubarak, it poses the question of whether this is a matter of governance or something else. We saw how the corruption and autocracy continued under Mohamed Morsi, and has gone supernova since the military coup led by Fatah al-Sisi. Indeed, the nationalist and independence movements often betrayed their own ideals, as political parties either became entrenched like in Algeria, or strongmen took over, like Idi Amin in Uganda. Is it doomed to always be like this?!
All in all, a very good movie.
I view the movie as sort of an Egyptian version of movies like "Amores Perros" and "Y Tu Mamá También", both of which show the degeneracy of Mexican society by looking at the different aspects of society. Here we see just about every problem that infects Egyptian society. Although the movie is a scathing indictment of what the most populous Arab country had become under Mubarak, it poses the question of whether this is a matter of governance or something else. We saw how the corruption and autocracy continued under Mohamed Morsi, and has gone supernova since the military coup led by Fatah al-Sisi. Indeed, the nationalist and independence movements often betrayed their own ideals, as political parties either became entrenched like in Algeria, or strongmen took over, like Idi Amin in Uganda. Is it doomed to always be like this?!
All in all, a very good movie.