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Department of English and Comparative Literature, American University in Cairo and Department of English

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Department of English and Comparative Literature American University in

Cairo

Department of English and Comparative Literature American University in

Cairo and American University in Cairo Press

Cultural Hegemony and National Film Language: Youssef Chahine / :

Author(s): Maureen Kiernan and Source: Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, No. 15, Arab Cinematics: Toward the New and theAlternative / : (1995), pp. 130-152Published by: Department of English and Comparative Literature, American University in Cairoand American University in Cairo PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/521683Accessed: 26-10-2015 22:30 UTC

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2/24

Cultural

egemony

ndNational ilm

Language:

YoussefChahine

MaureenKiernan

Youssef

Chahine

s without oubt the most

widely

known

Egyptian

irectorn theWest.His work s

regularly

eviewed nd

screened,

specially

in

Europe,

and

he has undertaken everal

co-productions

ithFrench

ilmmaking

ompanies.

And

yet,

he is

intimately

ied to the

country

herehe was

born, aised,

nd

lives

today.

n

no

way

could

Youssef

Chahine

e

regarded

s

anything

ut

an

Egyptian

ilmmaker.

In the

context f

Egyptian

ilm

history,

owever,

Youssef

Chahine is an iconoclast. He has always worked somewhat

independently

f

the

Egyptian

ommercialtudio

inema

nd

yet

he

feels the

pressures

f this

system

mmensely.

He

was

born

in

Alexandria

n

1926,

at

that

ime

cosmopolitanmeeting

round

or

Mediterranean

ultures;

is father as a middle-class

awyer;

nd

his

family

elongs

to

the

Christian

minority,

ore

specifically

o the

Catholic

eligion,

tself

minority

ithin his

roup.

He was educated

in a British chool

n

Alexandria,

nd there ecame

fluent

n

several

languages.Although is fatherntended imto be an engineer n

leaving

chool,

with

reat

inancial

acrifice

y

his

family

e

traveled

to

the

United

States

to

study cting

t the Pasadena

Playhouse

n

California.1

His

experience

n

the United States

and his

continuing

relationship

ith

American

ilm ulture

as becomea

subtext

n his

films,

specially

he

utobiographical

rilogy

hich

s

part

f his most

recent

work.

His

training

as

in

acting,

utwhen

he returned

o

Egypt

hebecame directorirst.Whenhereturnedrom asadena n 1950,

he directed

is first

eature

ilm,

ather

Amin

Baba

Amin).

By

the

time

he had

filmed airo

Station

Bab

al-hadid)

n

1958,

Chahine

ad

developed

an authentic

nd

personal

style

of

filmmaking

hich

showed

a

developing

ounter-cinematic

ractice

opposed

to the

commercial

inema of

Egypt.

The bulk of

Chahine's

career

from

130

Alif

5

1995)

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/24

Cairo Station nward

might

e

considered o

be

the

best

example

f

"auteur"

ilmmaking

n

Egyptian

inema,

with

ll

the

positive

nd

creative ense

implied

n

the term.And

yet,

Chahine

s more

than

simply

n author f a

personal ision;

his

authorship

s also an

attempt

to define

n

authenticallygyptian

ational

ilm

anguage.

n

what

might

e

called

an

attempt

t a

postcolonial

iscourse

n

Egyptian

cinema,

Chahine

has

emerged

s

Egypt's

most

imaginative

nd

polemical

irector.2

His own

relationship

o

cinema nd his

early

nterest

n

theater

and

acting

orms he

ubject

f several f his ater

ilms;

what

eems

most

mportant

o note

n

relation o his

filmmakingractices

s

the

degree of marginalitye experienced hrough is own family,

upbringing,

nd

education.

e

was

raised

n

Alexandria,

he second

city"

f

Egypt; metropolis

enowned or ts

mix

of ethnic

minorities.

As

a member

f

a

bourgeois,

hristian

amily

n

a

predominantly

Muslim

etting,

e

certainly

elt is

marginal

tatus

eenly.3

he film

culture f

Egypt

t this ime nvolved he ervices f

many

f

themost

marginal

roups

n

Egyptian ociety;

t was-until

its nationalization

in

the

early

sixties-dominated

y

ethnic minoritieswithin he

nationalculture f

Egypt.

n a sense, then, he cinema was an

appropriate

hoice

forChahine.

Youssef

Chahine as

ong

defined imselfs an

"Alexandrine;"

what this means

n

the context f

Egyptian ociety

nd culture

s

important

o

an

understanding

f

Chahine's

viewpoint.4

ost

urban

dwellers

n

Egypt

eside

n

Cairo and

Cairo

s

considered

he

center,

the

pulse

of the

country-in

Arabic,

Cairo and

Egypt

are often

designated ith he ameword, misr."Alexandria,iven tspast nd

its

present eographical

ocation,

ontinues o be

associatedwith

multi-culturalism-ittands s a

kindof

counter-point

o

Cairo,

the

heart

f

Egypt.

To define

himself s

an

Alexandrine,

hen,

ndicatesthat

Youssef

Chahine

sees and

represents

himself as

outside the

mainstream,

arginal

o the main

fabric

f the national ulture.

e

has

cast himselfn

this ole n

terms f film

ulture

n

Egypt

s

well,

inorder ooffer n alternative-alternativeot lien--discourse;ut

to

forge

hisdiscourse

hahine

had to

undergo

irst hetrials f

the

existing ystem.

is career

egan

with

series

f

fairly

onventional

films,

omedies,

nd

musicals

presented

n

a

rather

nremarkable

way.

When he

returned

romthe

United States

and

began

his

filmmaking

areer n

Egypt,

e worked

within he tudio

enre

mode.

Alif 5

1995)

131



4/24

Although

is

early

films

arely

onformed

trictly

o the

fairly

igid

conventionsf commercial

ilmmaking

n

Egypt,

hahine

was

clearly

in

the

grip

fthis

ery

ormidable

ystem.

Chahine, or xample, sedgeneric ormulasnhisfirst ilm,

Baba

Amin,

et

his

early

use of musical

forms,

standard

enre

n

Egyptian

ommercial

inema,

was

even

at

this

tageclearly

marked

by

his

nterest

n

American

ilm

musicals.

he

effect,hen,

s

that f

allusion

to--or

even

parody

of-American

film

rather

han

an

adaptation

f the

pace

and structure

f the

Egyptian

musical

genre.

Yet

he

felt

ompelled

o

work,

o a

large

xtent,

ithin

heformulaic

system

f

Egyptian

ommercial

inema.

The tenfilmswhichChahine irected etween 950and 1958

include

number

f

very

onventional

elodramas

nd

musicals;

n

all of these

texts,

however,

he

manages

to rise

above

complete

accordance with commercial

filmmaking hrough

his sense of

composition

nd

through

his

adaptation

of

Hollywood

genre

techniques

o

an

Egyptian

arrative

iscourse.

He

employs

he star

system

n

a

fairly

onventional

ay,

and he

may

be credited

with

introducing

mar herif

o a mass udience.

Central

tation,

made n

1958,

marks

significant

hange

n

the

directionf his

career. t

tells he

tory

f

thedenizens

f Cairo's

main

railway

tation

n

the

course f one

day.

The

story

enters

n

a

poor

and somewhat

emented

ewspaper

awker

who

finds

himself

obsessed

with

young

oft-drink

eller

t the tation.

e watches

nd

pursues

her and when

she rebuffs

im,

he

attempts

o kill

her,

but

mistakenly

urders

nother

oung

woman nstead.

Theunityftime ndplace mposed ythe ocation fthe tory

and the vents

f the

plot

make his

remarkably

nified

nd

compact

film;

here

s little

ike t

n

the

Egyptian

tudio

ilms fthis

ra.

From

this

perspective,

his

film

emains ne

of

Chahine's

most

narratively

coherent

works

and

indicates

an

implicit

rebellion

against

the

generally

onlinear

arrative

ractices

f

Egyptian

inema.

Chahine

himself

plays

the

role

of

Kinawi,

the demented

murderer.

he

interaction

f the

haracters

n

the

film eveals

n interest

n

differing

culturalodes,basedparticularlynclass.Whileviolence ndsexual

passion

erve

s the

hreads

hich ie the

film

ogether,

hese

hemes

are

explored

n the

elationships

f

a number

f

couples

who

represent

different

ocial

classes

n

Egyptian

ociety;

he

etting

f

the

railway

station

makes

convenient

eeting

lace

for

hese

tories

ounfold.5

The

explicit

ortrayal

f sexual

obsession

nd its

subsequent

132

Alif

5

1995)



5/24

links o violence

s one

issue

whichmakes his remarkable

ilm

n

this cultural

and

historical

context. Chahine's

attempts

at

psychological

ealism

nd

depth,

oth n his direction nd in

his

portrayalfKinawi,mark significantreakwith gypt's ommercial

cinema.

hahine

imself

as stated hat ne of his

main oncerns

s

a

filmmakers

to

address

what

s

needed

n a

particular

ociety

t

a

particular

istoricalmoment.

n

Central

tation,

wanted o address

universal

oncerns

ut

lways

within

he

Egyptian

ontext."6

The

subtext

f sex and violence

which forms he

central

motivation

nd

psychological

evelopment

f

Kinawi s not a

new

issue for

Egyptian

inema,

but the directness

ithwhichYoussef

Chahine reats histheme nd thesympathye brings o his main

character

rovide

new

representation

f this ssue.

The

possibility

f

melodramatic

eneric

ormulas never

farfrom he frame ut with

Kinawi as the

point

f

view,

Chahine

vokes

sympathy

ather

han

bathos orhis characterization.

The

visual

style

of

the film

anticipates

he mature

tyle

of

Chahine nd ndicates careful enseof

composition;

hahine

avors

triadic

compositions

nd oftenunbalancesthe

frame

by placingcharactersn the

edges

ofit. n Central tation hisunderscoreshe

precarious

nature of several of the sexual

relationships

nder

consideration. is use of allusion

s also

present

ere,

lthough

is

homages

o Americanmusicals nd Hitchcock ilms o

not

have the

central

unction

hey

ake n

n

his

ater

exts.

The

opening

f the

film

resents

realistic

ocation-establishing

shot

f the

central tation

xplored

with

tracking

amera n a

fairly

longtake;charactersmove in and out of the frame. he senseof

off-screen

pace

and the

mportance

f

locale is a cinematic lement

which

will

become ne ofYoussef

Chahine's

rademarks.The

arrative

ofthefilm

s one

of Chahine'smost

nified

fforts;

he entral ocus s

on Kinawi

ndhis

obsessionwith he

young

irl.

Unlikemost arrative

films

n

Egyptian

inema,

he

plot

remains

entered n

this

ssue.

There s a

subplot

which nvolves

he

unionizationf theworkers

n

the

station,

ut

this

ubplot

s

not

quite uccessfully

ied

to

themain

plot fthe ilm.Nevertheless,t s thebeginningfChahine's ttempts

to

introduce

olitical

uestions

ntohis

films.7

hahine lso

includes

several

musical

numbers,

conventional

equirement

f commercial

Egyptian

inema,

nd

yet

these

songs

are motivatedn

partby

the

narrative

nd

charactersnd

provide

an added

dimension o the

characterizationor he

womain

ctors.

Alif

5

1995)

133



6/24

But

such dherence

o

the onventionsf

Egyptian

ommercial

cinema s not hallmark

fthis

ilm

nd

n

this

way

tmarks

turning

point

orChahine.The

subject

f

the

film s

itself ne

which

might

have had

affinities ith

gyptianmelodrama,

ut

Chahine

has made

several

hoices

n

making

his

film

whichfunctions

challenges

o

the

commercial onventions. o deal

seriously

with

psychological

realismwas

a

shift

way

from hedominance f musical

omedies

n

Egyptian

inema.

At this

point

n

the

history

f the

Egyptian

inema,

such

transgressions

f

audience

xpectation

ere

puzzling

or

he

majority

of

filmgoers;

he eriousness

f the

opic,

he

puzzling oint

f

view,

andthe brutal nding nticipatedhefilm'spoor reception.uzzled

audiences

did

not

support

he film

nd

it was a financial ailure

n

Egypt.

t

was, however,

critical uccess and this dilemma

aised

several

problematic

uestions

for Youssef Chahine as a director.

Facing

his

future

n the

Egyptian

inema

fter hefailed

eception

f

this

ilm,

oussefChahine onfronted

question

which ontinued

o

haunt

im

hroughout

is

career-who s

his

audience?

Although

his

issue

involves considerationf the conventions

nd the

power

of

commercialinema n Egypt, hahinedid notat thispoint ome to

terms ith he

lements hich

might

ccount or he

ailure f his first

serious ounter-cinematic

ext.

Instead,

hahine ook

up

the

ause of national

iberation

n his

Jamila,

he

Algerian

Jamila

l-Jaza'iriyya,

958),

biographical

ilm

which

centered n an

important

eroine

of the

Algerian

war

of

independence.

What

Chahine

had chosen

to

do

was

to

deal with

non-Egyptianubjects. hiswouldbe one ofonly fewChahine ilms

which s not

et

n

Egypt

ndwhich

emains controversial

ext

n his

career

or

his

eason.

t seems

pparent

hat

t this

oint

n

Chahine's

career

he

was

attempting

o

articulate

more

universal nd

pressing

concerns

f the ime.

y

choosing

film

roject

which

was

so

clearly

far

afield from

ither he

Egyptian

ommercial

ilm

ndustry

nd

Hollywood

film

genres,

Chahine

was

asserting

his

growing

independence

nd

attempting

o

forge

personal

tyle.

Jamila,

he

Algerianwas meant o be a film boutThird-Worldevolution;twas

thefirst ictional

eature

ilmmade

bout he

Algerian

evolution,

nd

in

manyways

t served

s

a

precursor

or

he

more

mpressive

attle

ofAlgiers

made twelve

years

ater.The

two

films

verlap

n

several

scenes nd

events,

ut

hevisual

uality

nd

narrative

tyle

f

Jamila,

the

Algerian

is much

less

consistent

han that

of Battle

of

Algiers.

134

Alif

5

1995)



7/24

Since

YoussefChahine

eganchallenging

he ommercial

ilm

industry

f

Egypt

n

explicit

nd

provocative

ays,

his critics

ave

consistently

aised he

uestion

f his ntendedudience. hahinehas

been accusedof elitism nd intentionalbscurityn his films; his

taunt as

followed im

hroughout

is

career.8

When

skedabout

his

intentionsnd

his

audience,

hahine

ontends hat e makeshis

films

for

Egyptians-"I

don't know

any

other

eoples'

stories,"9

e

has

said-but

the

omplexity

nd allusiveness f his film

exts re often

problem

even for the intellectuals

mong Egyptian

filmgoers.

The

burden f the

very

uccessful

ommercial

ilm

ndustry

f

Egypt

was

keenly

elt

by

Chahine;

while

examining

is role

as an

Egyptianilmmaker,e would nevitablyonfronthe xpectationsf

an

audience

rearedon

Egyptian

ommercial inema.

To a certain

extent,

his

s

an

issue which onfronts

ll filmmakers

n

Egypt.

he

commercial

tudio

system

has established tself s a

popular

and

powerful

ystem

n

thenational ulture

nd

beyond.

As

such,

t has

initiatednd maintained

onventions,

ased on the

Hollywood

model,

and it

has created audience

expectations

or entertainment

n

particular.

hat

ny

filmmaker

inds, hen,

s a

system

f conventions

whichruncounter o the

development

f a serious

vant-garde

r

non-commercialinema.

Chahine

opted

for an

explicitly

olitical topic

in

the

epic

undertaking

f

Salah

al-Din

(1941).

He

took on

this

project

from

Ezzedine

Zulfiqar

when t

was

already

n

progress;

s directorial

undertaking

t would

give

him

the

scope

to

develop

a statementn

Egypt

and

its

political

condition.

alah al-Din

was,

in

part,

an

allegory boutGamal Abdel Nasser and his visionofpan-Arabism.

The

film

s

subtitled

al-Nasser,"

hichmeans thevictorious"nd

s

the

name

of

the

famous ultan

Saladin,

as well as the

name

of the

President f

Egypt

t

the

time hat he film

was made. The

parallel

between aladin

and

Nasser s intentional

nd

stated. he film

was

projected

o be an

historical

pic

whichwould

present

he

Crusades

and this

articular

istorical

eriod

rom he

Arab

point

f view.10

n

this

particular

espect

hefilmwas a

success;

for he

first ime

n

the

historyfcinema, ttention as given otherole andinterestf the

traditionalother" n

the historical vents

of

the

Crusades.

As

a

subject

orWestern

ilmmakersnd

audiences,

heMiddle

Ages,

and

the Crusades

in

particular,

ffered

canvas for

historical

pics

overlaid

with omance nd

stressing

heheroic

quest."

Little

hought

or attention

as been

paid

to the land and culture

which

were

Alif

5

1995)

135



8/24

burdened

ith hese

wars.

There

has most

definitely

een no

attempt

to construct

n Arab

version

f the

great

attles or

he

Holy

Land;

n

cinema

history,

he

Arabs have been the

infidels,

heir

mage

manipulatedo suit hehegemoniciscourse.

Salah

al-Din, hen,

was

an

attempt

o counterhis

epresentation

andwas conceived t an historical oment

hen

gyptian

ationalism

was also

being historically

evised.The colonial

occupation

had

shaped

cinematic

mage

of

Egypt

nd the

surrounding

rea

which

was

beginning

to

be

countered

by

the National Cinema

Council-which

helped

finance

he

film-in

its choiceof

production

material

and

projects

for

financing.11

hahine,

then,

had

an

opportunityith his rojecto render ot nly nArabviewofhistory

but

lso to

allegorize

he

ontemporary

ituation

n

Egypt.12

Needless

o

say,

hiswas

a

very

mbitious

ndertaking

or

ny

one

film

project.

Add to this

nitiallyntimidatinglan

the imited

budget

f

Egypt's

national

ilm

oard

nd thishistorical

pic

was

in

some

ways

destined

o fall shortof

expectations.

hahine

was

compelled

to use

important

tars from

the commercial

ndustry,

type-cast

n a

way

he

might

rdinarily

ave

avoided.

For

example,

Salah al-Din himself as

played

by

AhmadMazhar, romanticead

in the studio

ystem,

ast

in

order

o

foreground

he heroism f

a

leader from

he Arab world.

From

the

point

of view

of historical

revisionism,

alah

al-Din

is

a

successful

ttempt

t historical

pic.

The characterf Salah

al-Din s

represented

s

a

sympathetic

nd

fair

rulerwho

shows

unprecedented

ercy

oward

his

adversaries;

is

meeting

with

King

Richard

s characterized

y

understanding

nd

compromiseatherhan hepassionate illainyo favored yWestern

representation.

Chahine

was resourceful

n

staging

attle

cenes

nd n

editing

to

convey

a sense of breadth

nd

scope despite

the

limits et

by

economic

ecessity.

evertheless,

he

diminished

spect

f the

pic

s

evident.

Although

hefilmwas

made

n

Cinemascope,

here

s little

reason or

tsuse. Chahine

ften

rames

he onfrontation

etween

he

two

leaders,

alah

al-Din and

Richard

he

Lion-Hearted,

sing

the

width fthe creenwith kill framinghe wofigurestextremends

of

thewide

screen,

or

xample);

nd battle

cenes re often

taged

o

evoke

a wide

horizontal

lateau.

This is one

film,

however,

where

Chahine

does

not favor

moving

amera

and

a

great

deal of

the

impressive

weep

ofthe

andscape

nd

epic

action

s lost

orsubsumed

inthe

diting rocess.

Much of this

treamlining

f

epic

quality

was

136

Alif

5

1995)



9/24

necessitated

y

a

budget

which

did not match the historical

r

allegorical

cope

of

the

project.

he

result s a

film

which

s

often

embarrassing

n

its nattentiono historic

etail nd ts

naccuracy

n

costume nddesign.

On the

allegorical

evel,

Salah al-Din

represents

n

attempt

o

express

heneed

for

an-Arabism

hich

was foremost

n the

political

agenda

of

Abdel Nasser.

n this

spect,

he

project

onformed

ery

nicely

with he

political

ocus f state

ilm

roduction

t

this

articular

historicalmoment. hadi

Abdel

Salam,

for

example,

had

problems

financing

is

own

projects artly

ecause

they

did

not

promote

he

cause of

pan-Arab nity

nd

solidarity.13

o,

in

this

nstance,

he

political arallels uggestednthe cript,s presentedo theNational

Film

Board and to

Chahine,

were effective

n

securing unding.

The

portrait

of

Salah

al-Din and the

emphasis

on

Christian-Muslim

ccord n theEastern

amp ertainlyoreground

he

issue of Arab

unity.

he

characterf

Salah

al-Din,

wise and careful

n

his

udgments,

umane nd

considerate

n

his

treatmentf

subjects

and

enemies,

s

clearly

meant

s

a

flatteringortrait

f

Abdel

Nasser.

The

narrativetress

n

Salah

al-Din's

accomplishments

resents

ot

only

nArab

perspective

n theCrusades, ut

positive

ppraisal

f

Nasser s

well.14

n

the

years rior

o the1967

defeat,

his

wouldhave

been a

politically

olerable

iewpoint

or

both

the

National

Film

Board nd

forChahine imself.

Despite

the

many

shortcomings,

he film

stands out as an

achievement

n

the

attempt

o articulate

national

cinematic

discourse. ecause it

attempts

fairly ophisticated

epresentation

f

a well-documentedistoricaleriod romnArabviewpoint,tbears

closer

xamination.ts

success at

representingsympatheticortrait

of an

historical

igure

s

significant.

rom

a

cinematic

iewpoint,

however,

he ilm

s less than

rilliant.

As

an

example

of the

genre

of historical

pic,

then,

alah

al-Din

falls

short

of

the

breadth

of cinematic

cope

which is

characteristic

f

this

genre.

Whilethe

widescreen

raming

annot

ail

to

provide

he

picture

with

wide

range

of

landscapepossibilities,

most therspects fmise nscenefall hort fepicproportions.or

example,

etails f

makeup,

uch as

thered beard

which s worn

by

Richard

he

Lion-Hearted,

re

patently

alse,

nd

hardly

ntended

o

reproduce

he

tylization

f

expressionism.

The

editing

f

the

film

demonstrateshahine's

attempt

t

mastering

he form

hrough

he use

of allusionsto

Eisenstein-like

Alif15

1995)

137



10/24

montage.

utting

etween he

waves of

theocean and

the

waves of

soldiers

clashing

n

battle,

Chahine

manages

to

circumvent he

problems

f imited

rowd

ceneswith

montage

f

quick

utswhich

createparallelbattle cenes. n thefewsuch nstances f inventive

cinematic arrativen

the

film,

Chahineshows himself o be the

master f

a

cinematic orm.

There re far

too few

such

nstances

n

Salah

al-Din and

the

final

mpression

f thefilm

emains

ne of

an

occasionally

rilliant

failure.t is

also

a

film,

owever,

which

helped

o

establish hahine

as a

recognizable

uteur n

thenational

inemaof

Egypt.

While

his

career

ad

always

been

eclectic nd

noteworthy,

ith alah al-Din he

had shown hathe was capableof a recognizablyistinct inematic

style

nd

that

e

had control f the

orm f the

ilm

ven fthe ontent

hadbeen

ssigned

o him.

Youssef Chahine

atermade a

dramatic

urn oward he rural

landscape,

setting

whichhe had

never

seriously

xplored

n

his

career.

A

quasi-documentary,

he

People

of

the

Nile,

undertakenor

the

National ilm

Board

preceded

y

a

year

ne ofhis most mbitious

feature

ndertakings,

he Earth

al-Ard,

970),

based

on a

novel

by

the

popular

writer bdelRahman harkawi,ranslated

y

Desmond

Stewarts

Egyptian

arth

1962),

and

set

n a

village

n rural

gypt

n

the

1930s.

The

connectionsetween

he

wo exts orm

new

emphasis

or

Chahine nd a movement

way,

t least

temporarily,

rom heurban

milieuwhich

onstitutes

uch f

his

work.

His nterest

n

the

ellaheen,

and their

conomic

roblems

nd

social

repression

uring

he

years

f

Britishccupation,s played ut n hisadaptationfTheEarth1968).

The novel

tself

epresents

he ife fthis

lass

at

this istorical oment

in

a

richly

aturalistic

ulti-plotted

arrative hich hahine

rought

o

the

creen

long

with heuse of

symbolic

motifs hichwould

become

a

staple

narrative

evice

n

his

films.Both

the novel and the film

represent

he

story

f

a

peasant

amily aught

n an economic

risis

brought

n

by

the andowners. hahine

ortrays

he

complexities

f

village

ife

hrough

variety

f characters

ho

represent

he

hierarchy

ofpower nd dominationithin he lass structurefrural gypt. he

plot

of the

film revolves round

the

attempts

y

the landowner

Muhammad asha to allow

a

railroad o

be constructed

hrough

he

landwhich he

ellaheen

arm.

lthough

he armers

rotest

hevarious

dictatorial

ulings

f

the

andlord,

he

railroad

oes

ahead s

scheduled

and the heroof the

film s

killed

by

the andlord's enchmen

s

he

138

Alif

5

1995)



11/24

clings

othe

otton

lants

e

willnever

arvest.

Strikingly

bsent

hroughout

ost

of the

film

s the

colonial

presence

f the

British;

n

the

end,

they

re

represented

nstead

y

colonized udanese oldierswhoterrorizehevillage n thenameof

the

colonizers. The

irony

of these

black soldiers

engaged

in

perpetrating

he

hegemony

f their

wn white

ppressors

s

skillfully

played

out

n

the

tark ontrast etween

he

people

of Sudan and the

people

of

Egypt.

ut

Chahine's

oint

s

invalidated

y

the

bsence

f

anyrepresentation

f British

olonialism.

he

victims,

n

this

ase

the

Sudanese,

bear

unjustly

he

brunt f

colonial violence.

n

fact,

he

black oldiers

re

representednly

s

catalysts

f

British

olonialism,

which n turn s takenup by thepasha who effects hefinalrift

between

ellah

and land

by

introducing

ndustrializationnd

the

modernization

f

the

railroad.

He, too,

incorporates

he

colonial

discourse

lthough

e is

even

furtherrom

hatculture n

visual

representation

han he

black oldiers.

What s

apparent

hroughout

he ilm

s the

nability

f

Egyptian

cinema

to

represent

he

colonial

presence

n

any

direct

way;

the

national

ilm

anguage

ven

at this

point

f

the

nationalization

f

the

cinemahad not

developed

hemeansto articulatehe

hegemony

f

Western

culture

n

Egypt.

This

relationship

f

colonizer

and

colonized,

hen,

s

still

relegated

o

the

categories

f

class and

race,

particularly

een n

the

andowning

lass of

Egypt

nd

n

the

case

of

Sudanese

oldiers. he

text f thefilm

hus

learly resents

he

lass

conflict f

colonial

Egypt

ut

avoids

the

ssue of

British

ccupation.

Like

the

films f

the

tudio

ystem

made

under

olonial

ule,

hefilm

articulateshehegemonic elations etweenEgyptians f different

classes,

and

these

relations re

symbolized

n

partby

the

railroad

which

rings

he

modem

ndthe

urban o a

poor

nd

rural

etting.

he

Earth

s

Chahine'sfirst

ttempt

o

systematicallyepresent

he

rural

poor

nd he

falls

prey

o

sentimentality

n

many

nstances.

asing

his

script

on

a

novel

ties

him

to

characters

which

often

become

stereotypes.

evertheless,

e

develops

n

thisfilm

he

beginnings

f

an

iconography

hich

will

continue

o

servehim

n

his

development

ofa visual tyle.

While

Salah

al-Din

serves

s

an

example

f

an

historical

pic,

The

Earth s

an

example

f

a

pastoral

pic,

but

one

which

llows

the

discourse f

the

commercial

gyptian

inema o

govern

he

tructure

of

the

narrative.

lthough

he

film

does

not

take

commercial

enre

films s

its

standard,

hahine

till

follows

he

discourse f

cultural

Alif

5

1995)

139



12/24

representation

ictated

y

the

tudio

ystem

ince he1930s.

The

film

provides

ittle

ritique

f

colonial

hegemony,

ven

though

t

s

set

n

the

1930s

at the

height

of

the British

colonial

presence.

As a pastoralpic,TheEarth s fairlyonventionalxceptn ts

visual

style;

Chahine here

employs

he

beginnings

f a

personal

symbolic

ystem

which

will

serve

s

a leitmotifn

a number

f

the

films

n

his

career.

n

this

particular

ext,

he

hands

which

end nd

clutch he otton

lant

est

epresent

he

ellaheen's elationship

o the

land. This

shot,

f hands

ending

he

cotton

lant

ilmed

n

close-up,

becomes

summary

f

the

text. n

a

great

many

f his

films,

uch a

shot,

decontextualizedrom he narrative ecomes a

motif

which

summarizesomemajor hemerrelationship.

The

most

xplicitly olitical

ilms

f YoussefChahine's areer

begin

t this

tage;

following

he

Earth

nd

ts

critical nd

financial

success,

he

undertook

series

of

filmswhich would

confront

number

f the most

pressing

uestions

n

contemporarygyptian

society.

These are also

among

his

most

ambiguous

ilms

from he

point

f

view

of

narrative,

nd

they epresent turning oint

n his

effortso address he

uestion

f

audience:

The

Sparrow

Al-'asfour),

The Choice

(Al-ikhtiar),

nd The

Return

f

the

Prodigal

('Awdat

al-ibn

l-dal).

Narrativelyomplex,

The

Sparrow

1972)

is

representative

f

this

new

agenda

for

Chahine;

he

film

eals

with

he

ftermath

f the

1967

war with

srael,

subject

which

virtuallyvery

ntellectual

nd

artist

onfrontedt that

ime

n

Egypt.

Chahinehas said

that

the

filmmaker

orking

fter

1967

is almost a different

erson.

The

agendahadchanged ramaticallyollowinghathumiliation."15he

narrative

f the

story

s

very complicated

nd

often

confusing,

interweaving

ifferenttories

with

highly

ymbolic

nd

allegorical

subtexts. n

first

iewing,

t is

too

complex

for

most

udiences

o

unravel.

The

principle

etting

f

the

film s

the

house

of

Bahiyya

where

ne finds

microcosm

f

contemporary

airo.

Bahiyya

erself

is a

symbol

or

Egypt

nd

the

audience

finds

ongregated

here

he

intellectual

oussef,

journalist,

nd

the

police

officer aouf

who

has

pursued thief, bu Khedeir. hecorruptionfthe tates alluded o

in

thevarious

motivations

or he ction

which

ccurs

between

hese

main

layers.

The

settings

nd

subplots

hange

with

great

apidity

nd,

ittle

of

the

motivationsor ctions

r thecause-and-effect

elationship

f

the

plot

s madeclear.

Corruption

s

themain ubtext

f The

Sparrow

140

Alif

5

1995)



13/24

and the

politicalmessage

of the

film s

obvious: t

the

end,

Nasser

makeshis

famous

adio

broadcast

esigning

s

president

n

the

wake

of

Egypt's

massive efeat nd the

people,

ead

by Bahiyya,

ake o

the

streethoutingNo " todefeat, ohisresignation,o thecorruption

which

ed to both.

At this

point

n

Chahine's

career,

he

need to conceal

the

political

riticism

n his films

was a

necessary trategy.

ensorship

f

political

ssues was and remains

difficult

urdle

or

ny

filmmaker

who wants

o confront

hallenging

nd

contemporary

ssues.

Chahine,

then,

elt

obliged

to

devise

a

variety

f means to circumvent

he

problems

aced

by

filmmakersike Tewfik

aleh and

Shadi

Abdel

Salam.Already stablisheds a majorforcenthe ounter-cinemaf

Egypt,

Chahine was

developing

reputation

s

a difficult

ut

rewarding

ilmmaker.is narratives

affled

he

majority

f

filmgoers,

yet

he felt hiswas a

necessity

ecause

of thethrust

f his

message.

Obscuring

he

narratives

he

did n The

Sparrow

nd n

The Choice

was

certainly

is

east

effective

trategy

or

ccomplishing

is

goals.

The

politicalmessage

f

his

films

n this

period

ailed

o reach

the

udience

who

most

needed

o hear

t.While he ntellectual

lasses

were nthemiddle f

examining

gypt's

ailurenthe1967war and

their wn

role n

that

rocess,

hahine

rticulatedheir

houghts

n a

film

narrative

hich

poke

to them lone.

The semi-literate

ajority

of

Egyptian filmgoers,

ccustomed

to commercial inema and

expecting

ntertainmentnd

genre

ilms,

were

virtually

xcluded

by

the

opacity

f

thenarrative. ith hese wo

films,

hahine aced

he

dilemmawhich ad haunted

im

from he

beginning

f his

career

n

a

very xplicitway:hisnarrativeseredevised o eludethe ensorship

of the

tate,

ut

hey

were

lso

eluding

he

udience

hey

weremeant

for.

Chahine

ealized hat

is ntended arratives

ere

perhaps

imed

at

the

ntellectual lass who were

already

onfronting

hese ssues

themselves;

e

was

enlightening

he

lready

wakened,

far

ry

rom

his

ntended

urpose.

The

Return

f

the

Prodigal,

ilmed

n

1976,

hows somewhat

half-hearted

ttempt

y

Chahine o

remedy

his

problem

within

he

contextfcounter-cinemanEgypt. hefilm ortrayshedissolution

of

a

bourgeois

amily

n

thewakeof

nationalizationnd ts

aftermath;

again,

the film s

replete

with

the kind of

personal

conographic

images

whichhad

becomemore nd more

haracteristicf

Chahine's

filmic

tyle.

There s a clown who

appears ilently,eginning

nd

ending

he

film,

uthe servesno

narrative

urpose;

here re various

Alif

5

1995)

141



14/24

decontextualized

hots imilar

o

the

nonnarrative

nsert hotswhich

madeThe

Sparrow

o

narratively

ncoherent.

The Return

f

the

Prodigal

incorporates

great

number

f

generic

codes

as

well. Youssef

Chahine has

termed

his film a

"musical

tragedy"

and has

indicated

that

such

a

familiarly

unconventional

enre

name

helped

to

get

the film

passed by

the

censors.16Yet his

ability

to

structure

he

film

as a

musical,

unconventionals

the

narrative

ay

be,

is also an

attempt

o include

as

many people

as

possible

in

his

audience.

Such a

film

would

conform

ufficiently

o the

commercial

eneric

mode

for

Egyptian

film,

n

order o attract

broader udience han

he ntellectuals ho

hadpreviouslyormedhebulk fChahine's iewers.

In

TheReturn

f

the

Prodigal,

he ldest

on of the

family,

Ali,

has been

mprisoned

or dozen

years

for

rguing

gainst

he state.

He

is

suddenly

eleased

nd

returns

o his

family;

hey

ind

im

ged

and

changed.

He becomes hardened

man,

moredecadent han

he

restof

his

quickly

decaying

lass.

The filmends with

the

family

destroyed

n

a massacre.The decadence

of the

bourgeoisie

nd

intellectual

lass

s

epitomized

n

the haracter

f

Ali,

who

s

unable

to maintain is aspirationsnd idealism utside fprison.Chahine

offers

variety

f

possible

causes

forthe

decay

and

corruption

f

contemporary

gyptian

ntelligentsia, sing,

ironically,

what

is

possibly

he most anti-intellectual

f

generic

forms.

he

"musical

tragedy"

hichChahine

rchestrates

n this

film

dheres

o

many

f

the characteristics

f commercial

gyptian

ilm

n its

form,

et

the

content

s

bitingly

ritical nd

often

olitical,

with

script

nd

songs

written y Egypt's prominent oet and artistSalah Jahin.For

example,

t one

point

n

the

film,

group

f

people

take

o the

treets

in

a

brash ance

nd

song

itled

The Streets

re Ours."

As

they

make

their

way

through

he

setting

nd the

song,

hey

re

suddenly

alted

by

a

gun-wielding

owboy

who

prevents

heir

assage.

Egypt's

ncipient

ependence

n the

postcolonial

ower

f

the

United

States

and

that nation's

growing

hegemony

n the

area

engender

not-so-subtle

ritique

romChahine.

The

implications,

however, each furtherhan this; as Chahinemoves towardan

increasinglyostmodern

orm

f

expression,

e also

attempts,

nthis

film,

to

criticize

he

very

class

which,

n

conjunction

with

the

postcolonial

resence

of the United

States,

s

responsible

orthe

introduction

fthese

ery

orms

f

discourse.

The

Return

of

the

Prodigal

oftenreads

as a

fragmented

142

Alif

5

1995)



15/24

self-parody

oving

oward

postcolonial

arrative

orm,

nd

yet

his

forms

reliant

n the

oncept

f

the

modem hat

s so

important

o

the

bourgeoisie

f

Chahine'sfilm.Whatunites

heoften

iting

olitical

critiquesof this period of Chahine's career is this attempt t

developing

postcolonial

mode

of

discourse

while

till

elying

n

an

indigenous

ilm

anguage.

The Return

f

the

Prodigal

s

perhaps

he

most uccessful

ttempt

t

this

omplex

ask,

n

part

because

t

very

playfully

ses the

generic

form so

important

o the

national

commercial

ndustry.

he

"musical

tragedy"

eads to a

further

disruption

n

form

n

much

of

themost

mportant

exts n

Chahine's

later areer.With his

group

f

political

ilms,

hahinehas found

form f discourse uitableto his subjectand beginsthe task of

refining

hat

iscourse.

In

1978,

Chahinemade

his

next

film,

he

first f what

would

become

a

trilogy

of

autobiographical

exts.

Alexandria,

Why?

(Iskandariyya,

ih?)

is

an evocation f the

port

city

of

Alexandria

during

WorldWar

I.

Yahya,

the

main

character,

s

closely

modeled

on

Chahine nd the

family

s his

own. WhatChahinehas set as

his

task s

a text

f

self-realizationnd definition

hrough emory

n

the

form of a

postmodenistmyth.17

Central to the film is the

self-reflexivity

f a filmmaker

n

the

process

f

becoming. ahya

s

a

character

earching

or

vocation nd

attempting

o

define imself.

Alexandria,

Why?

s

perhaps

hahine's

most

uccessful

ttempt

to

embody

he

pecific

nd the

personal

n

an

Egyptian

ational

ilm

style

nd

anguage.

he

ssue

of

an

Egyptian

ational

ultures

central

to the

text

but n

this

film

t is

not

an

easy

issue. The

setting

f

the

film s Alexandrian theyearsofWorldWar II, a time ndplace

which

might

well

qualify

s one

of

themost

osmopolitan

f

modem

history.

Alexandria,

the

Mediterranean

eaport

of

Egypt,

has

historically

eena

crossroads or

uropean

ndNearEastern

ultures;

combine

this historical

mixtureof

cultures

with

the enforced

occupation y

foreign

roops

during

he

war,

and the milieu

s

a

patchwork

f

anguages,

ultures,

nd

races.

For the

young

gyptian

protagonist

ho

represents

hahine,

oming

of

age

in

this

arena

exposeshim o a confusingrray fmarginalizedroups-foreigners

are

often

omosexuals,

gyptians

un

he

gamut

rom

lack to Jew

o

English-speaking

ffete.

The

multicultural

xperience

of

1940s

Alexandrias

not

t

all

confusing

or he

hero,

ut

heWestern

iewer

is

presented

with

an

array

of

ethnic

groups

which

defy any

stereotypical

endering

f

"Egyptian."

Alif

5

1995)

143



16/24

In the

context

f

Alexandria,

Why?

he

concept

f

"other"

s

never

learly

efined;

ahya

declines

o

measure

imself

gainst

ny

one

marginalgroup,

finding

omparisons,

or

example,

between

himself nd his homosexualuncle. Likewise,he transforms

is

schoolroom

eading

f

Shakespeare

nto

n

mpassioned

rabic

which

even

his

British

rofessor

eems

capable

of

understanding.

hen

Yahya

argues point

with

his

teacher,

hehero

does

it

n

Arabic

nd

his

adversary esponds

n

English.

Yet the debate

continues,

ach

acknowledging

he

other nd

his

autonomy

ut

refusing

o

relinquish

the

power

f

anguage.

or

Yahya

and

for he

Egyptian

udience

or

whom

he serves as

point

of

view,

the

"other"never

successfully

coalescesinto a definablentity ntil heprotagonisteaves Egypt.

As

a

filmmaker,

oussef Chahine

has

always

worked

n

the

margins

f

commercial

inema

n

Egypt;

s

a

director,

e

has

found

himself

member

f

marginalized

ommunities

n

many

ronts.

is

politics

ave also

consistently

een

those

f

the

opposition,

nd

so he

has

developed

s a

leading

voice

in

cinema

n

the

region

ne would

have

to

say

n

spite

f

these

differences."

is interest

n

the

other,"

the

marginalgroups

not

represented

n commercial

inema,

has

consistently

een

presented

n the ontextf

giving

oice ratherhan

pointing

ingers.

n The

Sparrow

or

xample,

e refused

o

point

o

the

obvious

ulprit,

he

sraelis,

hoosing

nstead

o

examine

national

corruption

n

a

self-reflective

ay.

Chahine

has

consistently

esisted

the

obvious

groupings,

hoosing

o

explore,

nstead,

he

complicated

interrelations

f

elements

n the

hifting

ulture

nd

political

abric

f

the

MiddleEast.

The roleof the ntellectualnAlexandria,Why?nd, ndeed,n

the

whole

utobiographical

rilogy,

s

a

problematic

ne. n this

nitial

attempt

o

represent

he

beginnings

f an

Egyptian

rtist/intellectual,

Chahine

inds imself

n conflict

ith

heWest

o

which e also

pays

homage.18

he

young

ntellectual,

ahya,

receives

is

nspiration

nd

training

n and

from

the

West,

and

yet

the

Egyptian

national

ambivalence

oward

his

state

of affairs

s

palpable.

The issue

of

collaboration

etween

he

Egyptian

nationalists

nd the

Germans

duringWorldWarII is one ofthe moreunsettlingulturallyoded

ambiguities

or Western

iewers

of the film.

But the context

f

Germany

nd

ts

role

n

World

War

I

is

very

ifferent

or

Egyptians

whoknew

he

British s

a

colonial

resence.

Yahya

s

strongly

ttracted

o

Hollywood

ilms,

nd

his

earliest

creative

cts,

with

he

exception

f

theschoolroom

rabic

Hamlet,

144

Alif

5

1995)



17/24

revolve

around recreations f musical numbers.The

cultural

hegemony

f

Hollywood

s never

cknowledged

s

such

by Yahya

or

by

the

filmmaker

hahine;

yet

he mbivalence

owardheWest

and

its ntellectualndculturalraditionemains subtextnthefilm. his

surfaces

ccasionally

n

the

representation

f

the British

oldier,

ey

and

latently

omoerotic,

ho

drunkenly et

poignantly

ings

"The

White liffs fDover"before e s

shipped

o his death

t

al-Alamein.

In

Alexandria,

Why?

ahya

fights

o

go

to

America

o

become

a

film

director;

ut

when

he entersNew York

harbor,

e finds

leering

rostitute

mpersonating

he

Statue

f

Liberty

nd

a

group

f

Hassidic

Jews

ominously

waiting

his

arrival.Like

his

neighbor,

Isaac,who eavesEgypt or henew state f srael n 1948,Yahya s

confronted

ith

n

image

he

did not

nticipate.

or

both hese

emigrd

characters,

he

New

World

does

not in

any

way

conform

o

their

preconceivedmage

of

t.

n

most

f

the ubtexts

f

the

film,

ational

identity

s

a

main

concern;

t is often n

ambiguous

ssue

for the

characters

nd

for

Chahine s

filmmaker.

Alexandria,

Why?

s

perhaps

oussef

Chahine's

most

oherent

narrative nd

the culmination

f

his

experiment

ithmodem and

postmodern

orms n film.

Although

he text draws on several

narrative

hreads,

ts

focus

n

the

ntellectual/artist

oming

f

age

and

the

subtext

f

national

dentity rovide

coherence hat

his

earlier

films

ack.

Alexandria,

Why?

lso

continues hahine'smove oward

postmodern

orm n

film

narrative;

n

this

case,

much

of the

playfulness

nd

allusiveness

f

the

plot

are

motivated

y

Yahya's

interest

n

Hollywood

ilms

nd

musicals

n

particular.

he

opening

sequence fthefilmntercutscenesoftheAlexandrineeacheswith

Esther

Williams

films,

horeographed

o

popular

American ance

musicof

the 1940s.

The

closing

hot s

newsreel

ootage

f

wartime

Europe

which

xplodes

n

time

o themusic

nd s

matchedwith he

waves

on

the

oast

of

Egypt.

As

Western

iewers,

we

areasked o

discount

he

mportance

f

whathas

been

deemed one

of

the

seminal

ventsof

the twentieth

century-World

War

II.

The

perspective

f

the

film

n

the ssue

of

nation ndhistorys skewed, hen,othat fa young gyptian hose

sympathies

nd

interests o

not

necessarily

ie with

the

European

allies.The

play

ridicules

ll

political

iewpoints

n

the

presence

f

the

British

mbassador n

Alexandria.Chahine's

apparent

ttempt

o

recreatehe

atmosphere

f

Alexandria

uring

hese

years

hinges

n

his

ability

o

create

textwhich

lays

with

history

hile t

the ame

Alif

5

1995)

145



18/24

time

endering

henationalism

f that ra somewhat

udicrous.

t

is

a

difficult

ask,

utthe

postmodern

arrative hichChahine

onstructs

dismantles

ll

national dentities

n

a

very

successful

ttempt

o

explore heambiguitiesfnationalismnd culture,ndpossibly o

forge

"national"

iscourse

ased

on

pluralisms.

Soon after

lexandria,

Why?

was released

nd went

n to win

major

international

wards,

ncluding

Silver Bear at the

Berlin

International

ilm

Festival,

hahine uffered

major

heart ttack

nd

underwent

xtensive

ypass urgery;

his

part

f

his

autobiography

s

chronicled

n

An

Egyptian tory

Haduta

Misriyya,

982).

This

major

illness aused Chahine

o

rethink

is

career nd

his ife nd

gave

rise

toa determinationo makefilms hatweremore ersonal, otonly n

their

iconography

ut

in

their

subject

matter

as well.

The

autobiographicalrilogy,

hich

n

manyways

remains

his master

work,

s the esult

f

this efocus

n his

career.

An

Egyptian tory icksup

the

utobiographical

hread

f the

young

filmmaker

ahya

as

an adultwho has

become

a successful

filmmaker

n

Egypt.

Nour

l-Sherif,

n

Egyptian

tar t the

beginning

of

his

career,

mimicsChahine's

diosyncratic

annerisms

rilliantly

in the

opening

equence

of the film.When Chahinemust ravel o

London

for

open-heart

urgery,

he

questions

f

Egyptian

ational

identity

nd

ofthe

Arab's

place

n the

West ome

to thefore. hahine

again

treats

hese

ssues

in

a

postmodern

ay, populating

ngland

with

relatives

of the

filmmaker

and

enabling

the

filmmaker/protagonist

o

navigate

he

West without

urrendering

is

Egyptian

dentity.

Unlikemany fChahine'sprevious ilms, n Egyptian tory

was

both

a

popular

and

critical

success.

His

reputation

s

the

storyteller

f

Egypt

had

been

established

with

his

previous

autobiographical

ext

nd

Chahine

would

now

exploit

he

notoriety

e

had earned

s

spokesman

or he

marginal.

While

his narrative

tyle

remains

oncommercial,

is

attempts

o

incorporate

he

postmodern

structures

f

both

astern

nd

Western

arrative

raditions

as

piqued

the

nterest

f

a

more

general

udience.

his

audience

may

not

lways

understandistexts, utno onewouldmiss a Chahinefilm,fonly

because

he

has now

become

notoriousultural

igure.

The

third

art

f

Chahine's

utobiographical

rilogy

eturns

o

the

ubject

f the

filmmaker

orty

ears

ater

n a

reprisal

f his

nitial

Alexandria

film;

this

one is

titledAlexandria

Again

and

Again

(Iskandariyya

aman

wa

kaman,

1989).

The

filmmaker,

ahya,

this

146

Alif

5

1995)



19/24

time

playedby

Chahine

himself,

s aboutto

be honored t a

major

film

estival

orhis earlier

utobiographical

ilm. utthefestivals

in

Europe

nd he

fails

o winthe ward.

Chahine

ppears

s

himself,

n

outsidergain, elegatedhis imenot nly o themarginsfEgyptian

culture

ut

hunned

y

the

Western inema

ulture.

Central

o

thistext

s the filmmaker's

wn

relationship

o

the

culture

f the

West,

codified

n his

ambiguous

ttempts

o film

Hamlet.

n

Alexandria,

Why?

he

young

tudent

assionately

cts

and

sings

he

oliloquy

rom amlet

n his

English

lass,

o the hock f

his

teacher

ndthe

delight

fhisfellow

tudents.

t s this

cenewhich est

represents

hahine's

attempts

o find

commonality

etween

hese

differingultures.Alexandria,Again and Again also features he

production

f a

problematic

amlet

astwith

gyptians

nd

chanted

n

Arabic. t

is notthe

casting

n

Arabic

which

makes

his

production

metaphor

or

difference,

ut

rather he rift

whichthe

text creates

between hahine

nd

Amr,

is

young

tar nd

ove

object.

Chahine's

attempt

o

produce

his

film

epresents

is

efforts

oth

o control he

"other"

with

whom he

clearly

dentifies

nd to understand

he

Eurocentric

ulturalradition

ithwhich

Alexandria,

gain

nd

Again

struggles.

hahine,an educatedAlexandrine,an understand he

Western

ontext,

ut

t

s

clearly

difficultask

ndrolefor

his

young

star.

nstead,

Amr urns

is

back

on

Hamlet

o

direct elevisionerials

for

Gulf

heikh.

his shifts

represented

ividly

n thefilm s is the

tension etween

oung

nd

old,

iteratend lliterate.

lexandria,

gain

and

Again

s thefirst lear

example

f

Chahine's

cknowledgment

f

difference

ndofthe

mpossibility

f

reconciliation.

Alexandria,Again and Again takes as its central ventthe

Egyptian

ilm

guild's

strike or

greater

utonomy

n

1987.

As

a

political

vent

and as a

political

ubtext,

his narrativehreadhas

importantignificance:

t

represents

he lear

lliancebetween rt nd

politics

which Chahine has

maintained

n his work

since Central

Station.

t

also

represents

further

xploration

f

the

role of

the

intellectualnd artist

n

the

national ulture

f

Egypt.

he film s the

most

radical

formof

postmodern

arrative tructurehus far

in

Chahine's areer. he filmntercutshe ubplotsf the trikendthe

filming

f Hamletwithflashbacks

ot

only

to the awards

eremony

but lso to historical ecreationsf

Alexander's

ccupation

f

Egypt.

The

film

hifts

bruptly

rom

ne subtext

o

another,

isjointing

the

narrative

tructuren

disturbing

nd

disorientingays.

Chahine's

attempts

o deal with he ssues of

a national ulture nd theartist's

Alif

5

1995)

147



20/24

place

n t

are central

o each

subtext.

lexandria,

gain

nd

Again

s

themost adical nd

disturbingart

f

the

utobiographical

rilogy,

n

part

ecauseChahine

n

no

way

distances

imself

rom

he

narrative.

The distancingeviceswhich uture hediscourse eemextratextual

because

Chahine s

himself o

closely

llied

with

hefilm.

The

film

disturbs ecause

of

the

verlap

f

autobiography

nd

fiction.

With

is continued

xploration

n

a

postmodern

iscourse

fthe

possibilities

f

self-reflexive

ilmmaking,

hahine

has

added a

new

dimension oth

o

the

national

inema

f

Egypt

nd

to the ssues

of

Third-World

ilm s well.

Using

the self

to characterize

henational

identity

f

at

east

part

f

Egyptian

ociety

ndicates

new

direction

for uteurinemanEgypt ndtheThirdWorld. heautobiographical

trilogy

f

Youssef

Chahine

has

initiated ew

generic

forms

nd

possibilities

n

Egyptian

cinema,

though

largely

confined

to

counter-cinema.

Youssef Chahine

has

continued

o

experiment

ith

generic

form

n hisrecent

ttempt

o film

documentary

boutCairo.

n

many

ways,

hefilmmaker

as

come to

court

ontroversy

s

a

strategy

or

promoting

reedom

f

expression.

airo Illuminated

y

Its

People

(Al-Kahira

munawara i-ahliha,

991),

a

documentary

bout he

city

as

seen

by

Chahine,

s

in

manyways

his

most

ontroversial

ilm

o

date.

Banned

by

the

government

nd

publicly

ondemned,

his

film

won

accolades

when

it was

presented

t Cannes.

The film

was

condemned

y

the

Egyptian overnment

s an

unnecessarilyegative

portrait

f the

city.

he

film

xperiments

ith

ocumentary

orm

nd

authenticity,

n

an

attempt

o

represent

hat

might

e

considered

someof themost ressingroblemsfa troubledountry.

The film

is set

in

the

metatextual

ontext

of Chahine

challenging

group

f

young

filmmakers

o

represent

heir

ountry

for

foreign

elevision

roject.

hahine,

gain,

moves

n

and out

of

the

text as

the

marginalized

haracter

e has

always played,

but

somehow

moreaware

of

and

resigned

o

his

difference

han n

his

earlier

work.

He

explains

his

difference

irst

f all

in the ssueof

the

growth

f

slamic

fundamentalism.

epresenting

slam

n contrast

o

Western orms, hahine resents umerous isconcertingmagesof

Western

culture-including

a

miniskirted,

barefoot

blonde

tourist-unfolding

nder

he

watchful

aze

of

an Islamic

heikh.

ut

religious

ifference

s

only

one of a

number

f

problems

which

re

represented

hrough

hahine's

gaze.

As

in his

earlier

rilogy,

uch

s

made

ofthe

changes

which

modernization

as

made

n thefabric

f

148

Alif

5

1995)



21/24

Egyptian

ociety.

Economic and

social

problems

re the focus of

many

f

the cenes

n

Cairo

lluminated

y

ts

People.

WhatChahine

has

attempted

o do

is to

question

heform f

documentary

s

well

as

offer social andpolitical ritique f thecontemporarycene.What

results s

a

biting

ondemnation

f

the

government

onstructed

n a

textwhich ases ts ffect

n

ssues

of

authenticity.

Chahine himself

ppears

n

the film as an observer

f

the

day-to-day

ffairs

f

this

city,

nd

so

his

perspective

erves

s the

viewpoint

f

thefilm.

What

he

observes s

in

part resented

ithinhe

parameters

f

the

political pposition

o

Western

resence

elt

uring

the

Gulf War. The film

s

set in Cairo

during

he

days

between

January5 andFebruary3, 1991.While heoppositionothewar s

represented

n

some of the most authentic ewsreel

ootage

f

the

film,

much

f

what erves s

subject

matters the

growing

conomic

and social crisiswhich acesthis

ity.

There re

shots

f

the

uq,

of

the

growing

numbers

f

Cairenes

and

of

the

continuing

ension

between

eligions

nd between

lasses.

Many

of

these

ssues

aredealt

with

n

scenes which re

clearly

onstructed

pisodes,

not

authentic

documentaryootage.

The line between

these

documentary

nd

quasi-documentary

enderings

s sometimes

blurred

ne.

Often,

Chahine

very

learly

onstructs

fictional

pisode

with

aricatured

representations

f

various ocial

groups

who

perform

nd

speak

o

the

camera. or

example,

n

a

sequence

which

ritiques

henouveau iche

and their

materialism,

hahine

has a

man dressed n a white

uit

driving

white

Mercedes ddress he

camera,

peaking

f

his

ability

to

separate

imself rom he

est

f

his fellow

Cairenes

with

is

newly

and corruptlycquiredwealth.Moreproblematicre thesequences

which

re not

so

obviously taged

nd

scripted.

Cultural Hegemony and National Film Language- Youssef Chahine : ﺍﻟﻬﻴﻤﻨﺔ...

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Transcript of Cultural Hegemony and National Film Language- Youssef Chahine : ﺍﻟﻬﻴﻤﻨﺔ...