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Reviews
Ardh el-Khof (1999)
In the land of fear and human contradictions
Director Daoud Abdul-Sayed builds his drama on the human being, as he introduces to us Ahmed Zaky in different human faces: He is Yehia, the police officer who is in a secret mission in the underworld of drug dealers and he is also Yehia Abu Daboura, the drug dealer who is living his daily life as an outlaw. These different and contradicting roles of one man helped in enriching the drama in this movie.In between, you will meet another major role: Adam, the mail man who used to get the messages or secret reports from Yehia, assuming that he is reporting to his higher officers. Adam is like the person in the middle between Yehia the police officer and Yehia the drug dealer. Yehia tells us during the movie that he/ or the drug dealer became a wealthy man. Still "I made love, without feeling love", he said. When he comments on his divorce from Rabab, he says "I did not have children from her in purpose...my relationship with having kids embodied my double life". "I wanted Yehia the police officer who governs people to have kids, not Yehia the drug dealer" he said. Yehia's relationship with Farida, the engineer whom he first saw in an elevator, is more complicated. He loves her, but their marriage fails. However, she returns to him by the end of the movie, while he becomes a father of a little boy from a strange marriage from the simple woman, Hanaa. It is a movie which will take you to a new adventure, which was well written and directed by Abdul-Sayed with a notable performance from Ahmed Zaky and the new actress Farah. Not to forget the impact of Rageh Daoud's music on this must see movie.
Al Hob Fawk Hadabat Al Haram (1985)
When dreams are buried under economic pressures
It is a movie which deals with the human right of having his own private life. A simple right, but it faces problems starting from poverty, traditions, society classes, etc. Ahmed Zaky plays the role of a simple employee who is repressed because he cannot live a normal life, so he tries to live in his dreams. However, his desires put him under pressure, until he meets a woman at work who touches his heart. As poverty prevents them from getting married and having their own house, he convinces her to marry him secretly. Then problems surround them: They fail to have privacy and enjoy intimacy. Finally, they go to the pyramids plateau, only to be arrested by police officers for indecency in a public place. The movie raises the issue of privacy in traditional societies, the failure of authorities to provide citizens of their basic needs and rights. Univeristy graduates who find themselves working (or in fact not really working) in government buildings while not getting paid enough to live a normal life and build a family. Ahmed Zaky, Egypt's most talented actor in the last 20 years, embodies the guy who is under pressure from his society, his own desires, his love story. The innocence of Athar Al-Hakim made her the perfect choice for the woman who wants to love but cannot stand the pressures of her family, her fiancé, etc. The director Atef Al-Tayeb manages to tell us the story or the tragedy of living in Egypt during the 1970s and 1980s, where economic situation kills dreams, represses desires, while the state fails to deliver.