Egyptian revolution of 1952s Impact on Egyptian Films Content - Essay Example

? Egyptian revolution of 1952’s Impact on Egyptian Film’s Content By Due The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 is probably one of the most significant events of the history of Egypt. It released a wave of change throughout the country and had a manifold effect. The Egyptian Cinema also underwent a significant change as a result. However, this change was not immediate. It was after turning to socialism in 1961 that the Nasser regime took hold of the film industry. Before the revolution, the Egyptians had been going through what is now generally regarded as the golden period of filmmaking. The overall mood and imagination of the audience was brilliantly depicted in the movies of the 1940s and the 1950s. There were many stereotypical characters, and a lot of actors gained prominence by playing such type of characters. Egypt was introduced to cinema at a very early stage as opposed to many other countries. It was because Egypt was under French and British influence and it was mostly introduced early to new innovations in any field. In the 1930s, it was the third largest film industry in the world (Boraie, 2008). It was the most productive film industry in the Arab world. It was probably because Egypt was having the most stable demographic at that time. The lives of the natives were apparently not disturbed by the colonial powers. Especially after 1919, the Egyptian natives were greatly empowered and almost all the sectors began to be Egyptianized. A similar influence was observed on the movies. The impact of Western culture had been lessened to a great degree. The culture of the movies had become more Arabic and Egyptian. One of the major factors of Egyptian cinema’s pre-revolution eminence was the emergence of Umm Kuthum. Also known as Kawkab al-Sharq (Star of the East), she was a brilliant actress and probably the greatest singer that the Arabic world has ever produced. Her fame garnered a great number of audiences. Especially in the neighboring Arabic countries, the Egyptian culture and traditions had become widely familiar. The influence was so much that the colonial powers of the time saw the independent Egyptian cinema as a threat. According to Salmane et al (1976), “The French in the Maghreb... formed a "special department" on African problems that was "responsible for setting up a production centre in Morocco whose official mission was to oppose the influence of Egyptian cinema.” Egyptian cinema reached its Golden Age during the late 1930s. The content of the movies of this era mostly was the echo of contemporary events. A notable movie which can also be regarded as the pioneer of the golden era is The Will. This movie shows a group of university graduates who have to suffer economically despite their good education. Disgruntled with Egypt’s High Institute of Commerce, they protest against it (Kholeif, 2011). This movie depicted the unemployment problem of the time which was a harsh reality, and it was greatly appreciated by the audience. One of the hallmarks of the movies of the Golden age was that almost each movie had a happy ending. Sad endings were seldom well-received because they were incompatible with the overall psychology of the audience of Egypt. These movies mostly raised the contemporary issues and they were made to reach a solution hence leaving the audience satisfied. However, the pre-revolutionary cinema was still very much regulated. The content of the movies was somewhat confined. The British still had control over the political and economical structure of the country and the press was not free. There was still a struggle to break free from the Western influence. But the moviemakers preferred to play it safe, and make movies of the content that would both pass the censorship test and would be a commercial success (Schochat, 1990). A detestable practice also became active which was almost a form of plagiarism. Western movies or novels were adopted and made into Egyptian movies but the source was never acknowledged. A brief explanation regarding the content of pre-revolutionary movies was given by the critic Gallal Al Sharkawi (1966) as follows, “Love always takes pride of place, spiced with base seduction, rape, adultery, prison, murder, suicide and madness with- a background of brooding tragedy for the sympathetic victim. If we consider the 1945-46 season as an example, we find in the 23 melodramas, out of a total of 52 films: 9 girls seduced, 2 rapes, 3 suicides, 2 attempted suicides, 2 cases of madness.” A noteworthy effort was Kamal Selim’s movie, Al Azima (Determination). This was very different from its contemporary movies. A striking feature of this movie was that it was somewhat against the foreign influence. The foreign supremacy on Egyptian business sector was condemned through the depiction of hardships faced by a young man who had a good education but did not want to go into the Government service. He wanted the right to own a proprietorship and do his own business when it was largely dominated by the foreigners. The discontent was not portrayed very outwardly but it could have been implied easily. The Revolution of 1952 did not have an impact on Egyptian cinema in the sense that it was not brought under the Government’s control, but the content of the movies became very liberal. The right of freedom of speech gave a great amount of liberty to the cinema as well. The movies now discussed the post-colonial problems of the country very freely and celebrated the egress of foreigners in true sense. The Islamic, traditional and cultural values were given great importance. Cinema became a part of a passionate rediscovery of the Egyptian culture that had been badly tainted by the colonial powers. It strongly criticised colonial attitudes, and strived to convey realistic messages to the people. A Nobel Prize-winning author, Naguib Mahfouz’s work, Bidaya wa Nihaya (A Beginning and an End) was adopted into a film by Abou-Seif in 1960. This film explored the events of the protagonist’s life who wanted to be unfettered from the compulsions of the colonial system. The protagonist was played by the famous Omar Sharif. This movie was a giant step of transition for the Egyptian cinema. It was the first movie that had really broken the conventions set by the movies of the Golden Age. Egypt was left badly bruised due to the de-culturalization by the colonial powers, and this movie greatly succeeded in the manifestation of the same. Sharif played yet another role in a purely nationalistic movie called Fi Baitina Rajul (A Man in Our House). In this movie, the motive of breaking free from colonial influence causes the protagonist to murder the Egyptian prime minister. In the 1950s, the Egyptian movies also started to show women in powerful roles. Though still mostly stereotypical, this was quite an innovation because the Egyptian movies had a history of showing women as weak. They used to be either chasing or be chased by men. They were used as mere sex objects in many other movies. Later, women had roles like that of Faten Hamama’s in Sira' Fi Al-Wadi (Struggle in the Valley). This movie was a novel experience because Hamama played the role of rich man’s daughter that makes efforts to help the poor. This was quite contrary to stereotypical. The 1952 Revolution brought the Nasser Regime which was much better than the colonial system, but was not perfect. Its flaws were also depicted in the post-revolutionary movies. However, the public sector was also cognizant of the power of the cinema, and had used it well to propagate nationalistic beliefs throughout the country. Still, there was a contention in the industry. Ella Schochat (1990) pointed out that, “...within the framework of the Egyptian General Organization of Cinema the old struggle continued between the veteran producers and directors who gained their power from connections and experience in the industry, and the young generation who were struggling to produce a different cinema.” This problem was soon rectified and young generation was given a chance to prove its worth in the cinema. The themes of post-revolution movies drew inspiration from the events of the Revolution, problems of pre-revolution Egypt, injustice by the previous regime, weaknesses of the new regime, the nationalization of the Suez Canal, the Suez War and others. Contemporary issues like unfair monopolies and exploitation of labour were also the subjects of many post-revolutionary movies. A good example is the movie Atdona. el Khadna (Our Green Land) by Ahmed Dia-Eddine. This movie tells the story of a peasant and his wife who struggle very hard to get a land of their own in order to break free of the tyranny of the cruel land owners. Having succeeded in collecting the money, they find out that no one is willing to sell the land. In conclusion, the content of the movies of pre-revolution and post-revolution have noticeable differences. The pre-revolution movies were mostly stereotypical because of the foreign influence on censorship. The filmmakers could not work on a theme freely which was even a tad against the interests of the views of the colonial powers. This compulsion, coupled with a profit motive, made the moviemakers refrain from exploring new areas and discussing new themes. The post-revolutionary movies had the freedom to work on veritable themes. The industry was now free to focus on the real problems. Providing a happy ending was not important anymore. It was nationalized in the early 1960s but the criticism on the new regime continued to play a part in the development of the themes of Egyptian movies. The very eventful decades of 1940s and 1950s also provided a great deal of themes to work on. Most importantly, after the 1952 Revolution, Egypt had to find its true identity and find ways to reinforce its own culture. The post-revolutionary cinema played a huge part in the re-civilization of Egypt hence making it truly a proud nation with its own unique culture. References Boraie, S. (2008). Dream Works on the Nile. The Golden Years of Egyptian Film. Pp 8-9. Salmane H., Hartog S., & Wilson D. (1976). Algerian Cinema, British Film Institute. Al-Sharkawi, G. (1966). History of the U.A.R. Cinema. p 89 Shafik, V. (1998). Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity. New York: Cairo Press. Schochat, E. (1990). Egypt: Cinema and Revolution. Critical Arts, 2, 4. Kholeif, O. (2011). Egypt’s Revolutions on Film. Film Forever. Retrieved from http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/egypt-s-revolutions-film Read More