In retrospect, there were a decade long series of events that led to the uprising: protests over the US invasion of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine; small but persistent pro-democracy demonstrations; labor strikes; increasing public awareness of police abuse; canny use of social media to counter official propaganda; and the failure of Egypt’s version of trickle-down economics.
One of the consistent signs of the coming storm were a series of daring Egyptian movies. They dealt with a wide range of discontents, including chronic corruption. In some cases, they predicted violence was on the way.
The independent news website Mada Masr has chosen three as emblematic of the pre-2011 protest cinema. One was Imarat Yacoubian (The Yacoubian Building, 2006) which chronicled top-to-bottom corruption of the Mubarak era. Next, Mada Masr selected Heya Fawda (This is Chaos, 2007), which detailed police abuses, Ramy al-Etesamy (Ramy the Protester, 2008), a comedy about an accidental political agitator, and Microphone (2011), depicted deep despair in Alexandria.
There were several others which, I my view, exemplified the unease with things as they were. Heyna Maysara (‘Til Things Get Better, 2007) described a society rife with hopelessness and homelessness; terrorists blow a shanty town to bits. Cabaret (2008) was about a night club bombed by a terrorist. Wahad-Cifer (One-Zero, 2009) told the tale of society’s degradation during Mubarak’s reign. The comedy Hassan wa Markos (Hassan and Markos, 2009) was about a Muslim and Christian who are forced to change identities by religious fanatics.
These kind of movies are not likely to be produced in the current post-Arab Spring atmosphere of repression as al-Sisi simultaneously fight a terror war and suppresses any kind of dissent. The first decade of this century was a heady, even hopeful, time of dissent.
Sit back and enjoy Yacoubian Building (in English).
Here’s Heyna Maysara (in Arabic with English subtitles).
