During the recent past, several Egyptian stage and movie works have been launched, capitalising on anti-Americanism in the Arab world.
The latest to tap into the mood is Maalesh Ihna Bi Netbahdel (Alas, We're Being Mistreated), a local movie comedy, satirising the US "war on terror" and its 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The film, now playing at local theatres, revolves around Al Qarmouty, an outspoken owner of a coffee shop at the foot of the Giza Pyramids. Al Qarmouty is disappointed when his son fails to obtain a visa to the US. (Both characters are played by comic sensation Ahmad Adam.)
So, Al Qarmouty replaces a recently hung poster of US President George W. Bush at his caf with an electronically doctored portrait, showing Saddam Hussain shaking hands with him.
Al Qarmouty launches a flamboyant anti-US campaign, which a global news TV broadcast and Bush happen to watch.
As a result, Al Qarmouty becomes number three on the US most-wanted list after Osama Bin Laden and Saddam.
The plot thickens when Al Qarmouty's son is nabbed in Iraq, where he was delivering a cargo of mangoes to an Iraqi friend, for daring to criticise the then President Saddam Hussain.
Al Qarmouty goes to Iraq to look for his son, an action coinciding with the war on Iraq.
He runs into Saddam, who hands him a gun and forces him to join the resistance to the Americans.
Al Qarmouty is arrested and locked up in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, where Bush sees him during a visit, and attempts to frame him through a fake admission of involvement in acts of terror.
The film is based on a story by famous Egyptian scriptwriter Yousuf Ma'ate, the author of the anti-Israel comedy Al Sefara Fi Al Umara (The Embassy at the Apartment Block), currently playing at local theatres.
The US embassy in Cairo made no comment on Maalesh Ihna Bi Netbahdel.
Before hitting the screens, the film lived up to its title.
In Syria, the cast crew were arrested while shooting a scene showing a crowd of extras raising huge portraits of Saddam and chanting for him. The film, raking in big takings in Egypt's usually brisk summer movie season, has not impressed all critics.
"Its director Sherif Mandour did not manage the actors well," movie critic Mahmoud Qassem told Gulf News. "The script is flabby and digressive. Its redeeming feature is its political boldness and attempt to weave global momentous events into lives of ordinary Egyptians."
Saddam’s daughters sue producers
Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain's daughters, now living in Jordan, have reportedly sued the makers of Maalesh Ihna Bi Netbahdel (Alas, We're Being Mistreated) allegedly for distorting their father's image, and demanded the movie be banned.
“I've learnt about this lawsuit from the media. But I have not been notified of anything," Egyptian actor Ahmad Adam told a recent gathering in Cairo.
"I demand they (Saddam's daughters) instead sue George W. Bush [US president], who has destroyed Iraq and plundered its wealth."
The writer is a Cairo-based journalist
Gulf News
