The Yacoubian Building
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | عمارة يعقوبيان / ʿImārat Yaʿqūbiyān |
| Country of production | Egypt |
| original language | Arabic |
| Publishing year | 2006 |
| length | 165 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Marwan Hamed |
| script | Wahid Hamed |
| production | Imad Adeeb |
| music | Khaled Hammad |
| camera | Sameh Selim |
| cut | Khaled Marei |
| occupation | |
| |
Omaret yakobean is an Egyptian film from 2006. It is the adaptation of the novel The Jakubijân Building by Ala al-Aswani . The film is set around 1990, at the time of the first Gulf War . The story of various characters in a house in downtown Cairo is followed. The international title is The Yacoubian Building .
action
- Zaki Bey el Dessouki is an elderly, Paris- trained engineer who spends most of his time chasing women. He represents the pre-racist Egypt. He is not particularly interested in Islam .
- Taha el Shazli is the son of a caretaker. He got good grades in school. However, he is denied a police career because of his low origin. Frustrated, he turns to a militant Islamist group. After a demonstration, he is mistreated and raped by the police and becomes a terrorist.
- Buthayna el Sayed is initially Taha's girlfriend. However, as a young, very pretty woman, she is sexually molested by all of her employers. She separates from Taha after he defected to the Muslim Brotherhood . At the end of the film, she falls in love with Zaki Bey el Dessouki.
- Hatim Rasheed is the editor of a French-language newspaper and, like Zaki Bey el Dessouki, comes from the old upper class. He is homosexual and lives with a poor, Upper Egyptian farm worker, whose wife and child come to Cairo and are financially supported by Hatim Rasheed. However, the lover leaves him after his young son dies. Hatim Rasheed is eventually strangled by a second potential lover.
- Hagg Muhammad Azzam is a former shoe shiner who has risen to become one of the richest men in Cairo through partly illegal business. He secretly marries a second woman. When she had a child from him, he divorced her and forced an abortion against her will. He is given a secure seat in parliament, but is then blackmailed by a member of the ruling party.
The characters in the film do not all know each other, but they meet several times in the course of the film. There is hardly a happy ending for any of the characters. Only Zaki and Buthayna find each other and run towards the rising sun in the final scene. The film paints a dramatic picture of Egyptian society. The film deals with numerous taboo topics such as sexuality , homosexuality , corruption of the powerful and terrorism , which were almost never shown in an Arab film before.
background
In The Yacoubian Building is so far the most expensive Egyptian film production. With 6 million Egyptian pounds in revenue in the first week of the game, it is also the most successful Egyptian debut film and one of the most successful films in Egypt at all.
The film was discussed controversially in the Egyptian parliament for showing homosexuality, corruption and terrorism and after major public protest, as it allegedly spread “profanity and fornication”.
The film was Egypt's official entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film .
criticism
The film received very good reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes website counted 9 positive reviews of 9 professional reviews, which corresponds to a value of 100%. The film was also very well received by the general public, as 80% of 1,926 users rated the film positively. This in turn is confirmed by the online film archive IMDb , another platform on which normal users can submit their film reviews, because there 1,607 users gave the film a very good 7.3 out of 10 possible points on average. (As of July 27, 2011)
Lael Loewenstein of the Los Angeles Times found it fitting that a film about the “most expensive Egyptian building of its time is also the most expensive Egyptian film of all time”. He also attested that the director Hamed had great craftsmanship, as he managed to credibly balance the individual storylines.
In the Boston Globe , Janice Page said that "fans of the book should make their own judgment about the film because of its changes and omissions." However, it is worth investing two and a half hours for the film, since this film is an “epic that applies in every sense of the word”. The only criticism she accepted was that with a little more manual dexterity, “this epic would have turned into an even bigger and more powerful cinema experience”.
publication
After the film had its world premiere at the Berlinale 2006 , its official Egyptian theatrical release was on June 21, 2006. After the film was shown at other film festivals and released in other countries, it was able to achieve a production budget of 3.5 million US dollars Have worldwide revenues of $ 2.4 million.
Web links
- The Yacoubian Building in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Movie scenes
- Meeting on 3sat
- English interview with the novelist Ala al-Aswani about the book
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eli Lake: Protest Erupts In Egypt Over A Gay Movie on nysun.com from July 6, 2006 (English), accessed on July 27, 2011
- ↑ Egypt debates controversial film on bbc.co.uk from July 5, 2006 (English), accessed on July 27, 2011
- ^ Barney's version. rottentomatoes.com, accessed July 27, 2011 .
- ↑ Lael Loewenstein: Epic to intimate in `Yacoubian Building ' on latimes.com from December 8, 2006, accessed July 27, 2011
- ↑ Janice Page: In 'Yacoubian Building,' a richly layered tale of life in Cairo ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from boston.com on December 14, 2007, accessed July 27, 2011
- ↑ L'Immeuble Yacoubian ( French , PDF ; 1.2 MB) BAC Films . June 6, 2006. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012.
- ↑ OMARET YAKOBEAN (YACOUBIAN BUILDING) on boxofficemojo.com (English), accessed on July 27, 2011
