(Walad min al-Janna)
Country: SV/FR/FIN/DK
Technical: col/2.39:1 126m
Director: Tarik Saleh
Cast: Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Makram Khoury, Mehdi Dehbi
Synopsis:
An Egyptian fisherman’s son earns a place at the prestigious Islamic university and finds himself embroiled in state machinations to position their favoured candidate to succeed the recently deceased Grand Imam.
Review:
This impeccably shot political thriller, a kind of Egyptian Conclave, never quite comes to the boil. While sympathizing undeniably with our callow hero as he is catapulted from devout father and paternal local Imam to the shark infested waters of the big city, we cannot help but be underwhelmed by him as a character. The actor's callow performance isn’t helped by the director’s tendency to film him from behind, as if the better to identify with his experience, or by the fact that the students in their identical garb are hard to tell apart. Hence it is the still practising State security colonel, who has not entirely lost his soul, who impresses the most.
(Walad min al-Janna)
Country: SV/FR/FIN/DK
Technical: col/2.39:1 126m
Director: Tarik Saleh
Cast: Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Makram Khoury, Mehdi Dehbi
Synopsis:
An Egyptian fisherman’s son earns a place at the prestigious Islamic university and finds himself embroiled in state machinations to position their favoured candidate to succeed the recently deceased Grand Imam.
Review:
This impeccably shot political thriller, a kind of Egyptian Conclave, never quite comes to the boil. While sympathizing undeniably with our callow hero as he is catapulted from devout father and paternal local Imam to the shark infested waters of the big city, we cannot help but be underwhelmed by him as a character. The actor's callow performance isn’t helped by the director’s tendency to film him from behind, as if the better to identify with his experience, or by the fact that the students in their identical garb are hard to tell apart. Hence it is the still practising State security colonel, who has not entirely lost his soul, who impresses the most.
