Ibrahim El-Batout/ Egypt/Morocco 2008/ 90 min/ 15/ Arabic and Italian with English subtitles
Using documentary techniques in narrative film has long become a little passé, used by more cynical filmmakers to add credibility to fantastical stories (Cloverfield, District 9 et al). But it’s at its most effective, and has its roots in, more politically motivated material, such as Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers, and that’s also the motivation for its utilisation in Egyptian filmmaker El Batout’s second fiction feature. And it works, the film already having courted enough controversy to be censored in its home country.
A brazen protest at the state of governance in Egypt
Utilising some of his documentary footage from the aftermath of the bombing of Iraq with depleted uranium, the film, set in Ein Shams, revolves around schoolgirl Shams (Hanan Adel). Her father Ramadan (Ramadan Khater) is a taxi driver who works all day and has little time for his family. But when Shams contracts leukemia as a result of the uranium pollution, Ramadan is awoken into approaching political candidates for action.
A brazen protest at the state of governance in Egypt and an anguished cry against the forces of war, Batout’s film is at its best when it sticks to the script. But with the free-flowing docu-style, we’re often pulled into less potent and listless plot lines that weaken the impact of the central issue. As you might expect, the acting tends towards the amateurish at times, but it’s a testament to Batout’s skill at story construction that when the drama gets going its engrossing enough to survive its technical limitations.
Eye of the Sun showing @Filmhouse 19 Feb 18:00