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Egyptian film breaks taboos and tops box office

Posted on: Thursday, 29 June 2006, 09:55 CDT

By Tom Perry

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian film based on a best selling novel has pushed the boundaries of censorship and broken social taboos in its frank portrayal of homosexuality, police torture and government corruption.

"The Yacoubian Building" has topped the box office since its June 19 premiere and tells the stories of Cairenes living in one of the capital's classic 19th Century apartment buildings.

Set in the 1990s, its main characters include a homosexual, an aged womanizer and the son of the building's doorman, who joins an Islamist group after his application for the police force is turned down because of his lowly social status.

He is arrested while leading a protest and sexually abused and tortured in prison, driving him to seek revenge by taking up arms. Previous depictions of prison abuse in Egyptian films have been kept to periods before President Hosni Mubarak came to power in 1981.

"Usually the censors would put the condition that if you're going to deal with torture, it must be from the time of President Gamal Abdel Nasser or the King," said Alaa al Aswany, author of the novel.

Film critic Tarek el-Shenawy said: "Extremists are always portrayed as if they are a group born to carry weapons and kill innocents. This film says that there are social factors which drive the extremist."

Islamic militants waged an insurgency in Egypt in the 1990s in their quest for a strict Islamic state.

BLEAK PORTRAIT

The audience at the premiere clapped when the doorman's son avenged his sexual abuse by killing a security officer. Other anti-government scenes were also greeted by loud applause.

Egyptian censors tightly control films' political content. Aswany, an anti-government activist, suggested the film was allowed to air to give the impression of greater freedoms.

"They do this every now and then. They have an accumulation of experience in decoration, to make the point that it's a democracy," he said.

Sexual content is also closely controlled by censors in Egypt and the detailed portrayal of a gay man and his love life in the "The Yacoubian Building" is groundbreaking for the country's cinema.

"That you see his opinion and his feelings, this is new," said Khaled El Sawy, who plays the gay role. "There were films before which discussed homosexuality in society, but from a distance, without getting into the relationship," he said.

"A film such as this says that we can discuss all issues openly."

Many cinema goers have described the film as bold and courageous but have been depressed by its bleak portrait of oppression, corruption and social problems in Egypt.

"I went for a long walk after the film, thinking, trying to understand. It's a very depressing picture," said Amr el-Shoura, a final year medical student.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Wright)

Source: REUTERS

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