Mixed opinions on the film’s idea and goals. Al-Emarat Al-Youm
Most viewers of the Egyptian film “El-Rais Omar Harb,” currently showing in local cinemas, objected to its reliance on unprecedented sexual scenes in Arab cinema, in terms of quantity and boldness in presenting those scenes. Some of them expressed their annoyance with the film’s director, Khaled Youssef, and accused him of offending the values of Arab society, and Egyptian society in particular, through those scenes. Others criticized the stereotyping of the film’s hero, Hani Salama, expressing their admiration for the performance of artist Khaled Saleh, who played the role of El-Rais Omar. Others went so far as to say that the film’s idea does not fit the customs and traditions of Arab societies, “because casinos are not the focus of Arab life.” Others admired the film and said that it was a “qualitative shift” in the Arab film industry, stressing that the film reflected a reality “that Arab societies live in secret.” The film, starring Khaled Saleh, Hani Salama, Somaya El-Khashab, and Ghada Abdel Razek, received a score ranging from zero to eight.
Life is a “casino”
Reem Al-Jallad found that the idea of the film “does not fit the customs and traditions of Arab societies” because “casinos are not the focus of the life of the Arab nation,” adding that “the film does not fit with the life of the Egyptian people, who are deprived of the simplest beauties of life,” giving the film two points.
“The film is unrealistic because it does not reflect the difficult life of Egyptian society, which cannot secure a living,” said Haider Baraq, giving the film a zero. “Yes, the life of the entire Arab nation, and the Egyptian nation in particular, is a gambling game,” said Nihal Yassin, adding, “Why this massive attack on the film when it only conveyed the truth, without secrets and far from the ostrich heads buried in the ground?” Giving the film a score of eight.
Exploiting beauty
Ramadan Ahmed found that most Arab directors “exploit beautiful actresses in their films without giving them influential roles, just to increase sales at the box office,” adding that “the roles of Samia El Khashab and Ghada Abdel Razek were commercial,” giving the film a zero.
Muhannad Hatem agreed with him, saying: “I did not understand the story of the film because of the overwhelming presence of hot and immoral scenes in its content, as if the goal was only seduction,” giving the film a zero. Moayad Issa expressed his great annoyance “at the amount of sexual scenes and shots in the film,” expressing his surprise “at the director’s audacity in conveying facts about Egyptian and Arab girls that do not exist with such impudence,” giving the film a zero.
On the other hand, Sherine Raafat found that “this film is considered a qualitative leap in the Egyptian film industry,” explaining that “the hot scenes, despite their boldness, are considered the beginning of revelation regarding the reality that Egyptian society lives in,” giving the film eight points.
Safety and shine pattern
Adnan Manaa expressed his surprise at “the insistence on Hani Salama and giving him the lead roles,” adding, according to his description: “Salama has nothing to do with art and acting, and I don’t know the secret behind Khaled Youssef and Youssef Chahine’s insistence on him,” noting that “what saved the film despite its poor level” was the wonderful performance of artist Khaled Saleh, who, according to his expression, “should not have accepted to act in this ‘morally low’ film.”
Giving the film six points. “Director Khaled Youssef has only succeeded with the public through the pornographic scenes he uses in most of his films,” said Shehab El-Din Mohamed, adding, “Even his choice of actor Hani Salama is just an element of attraction for the audience despite his stereotypical performance in all his roles,” giving the film zero points. Khaled Abdel Khaleq, for his part, said, “Khaled Saleh is the distinctive element in the film,” adding, “The film is a complete copy of the American film style and has no connection to the reality of Arab life,” giving the film five points.
Zaher Mohamed said: “Personally, I got bored with Hani Salama’s performance, as he does not need to film his scenes because he can replace them from one film to another. He is far removed from acting and art,” giving the film six points.
What they said about the movie
Alaa El Shafei: “The film is inspired by foreign films such as “Casino” by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, and “The Devil’s Advocate” starring Al Pacino.
The film is biased towards religion by emphasizing that getting rid of evil and a life of vice can only be done by resorting to religion and a relationship with God, despite all the scenes in it that conservatives and advocates of virtue consider to be a departure from public morality.
Tarek El-Shennawy: “It is very similar to Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ,” from which the director drew inspiration for the recurring nightmares experienced by the film’s hero, Hani Salama.”
Author Hani Fawzy: “It may resemble the movie ‘Casino’ in location but not in goals and content because American social reality is different from Arab society.”
About the movie
The film witnessed many disputes between the artist Somaya El Khashab, the film’s star Hani Salama, and its director Khaled Youssef, which led to El Khashab not participating in the film’s special screening in Cairo. El Khashab’s problem with Youssef developed due to her disagreement with Salama over the arrangement of names and pictures on the film’s poster. This problem began when Salama expressed his anger over the film’s name “El-Rais Omar Harb”, which is the name of the character played by Khaled Saleh. This prompted Youssef, the film’s director, to appease Hani by putting his picture on the poster before Somaya’s, which angered Somaya a lot, especially after Youssef’s statements that he was the one who made her a movie star, and without him she would not have been in this cinematic position that any Arab artist would wish for.
Movie Story
The events of the movie “El-Rais Omar Harb” revolve around El-Rais Omar, the manager of one of the casinos, who has complete control over all the workers in the casino, and even goes beyond that to manage their daily lives. The viewer sees how beautiful women are exploited to attract the largest number of customers by tempting them to have sexual relations inside and outside the casino. Through this casino, the director tried to convey to the viewer that the life we live is completely similar to the life of casinos, but with greater secrecy, by discussing the social and religious contradictions that Egyptian society suffers from.
