Arabic Film Breaks Historic Barriers

This last week, “Menahi” became the first feature film shown in Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years. I worked as a supervising producer on the film last year in Cairo, Egypt for two months. I even appear briefly in a scene in an airplane as an American asking the film’s principal, Menahi, if he is crazy – “Ana magnun!?” – in Arabic. Since I wrote the “Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways For Every American To Fight Terrorism” and Saudi Wahabism is a primary ingredient in terrorism these days, my head spins with the juxtaposition of my work and the film’s groundbreaking venue. The fact that “Menahi” is an Arabic language comedy makes it all the more surreal.

Films are prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Shown in the western city of Jeddah, more “open” than Riyadh, the audience was composed of men and children younger than 10.

Well. It’s a start.

The film was shot primarily in Cairo in March 2008. The crew was Egyptian, but other actors and reps were Jordanians, Syrians, Kuwaiti, Saudi and Lebanese. We had Christians, Catholics, Muslims and Egyptian Coptics. News releases claim that Rotana Studios produced the film but its visionary was a producer in Lebanon who hired me through his American contact to improve Middle Eastern production standards, strategies and methods. I met poor crew-members, essentially production assistants and runners, working for $5 a day (without camel) to well-educated producers. Attempting Arabic, I earned points for my efforts and opened doors for candid talks. Everyone was genuinely proud of their nationality – though that didn’t necessarily translate into respect for other nationalities. What bridged nationalities, religion and even politics were Movies. Favorite films. Favorites shots in favorite films. The Moving Picture.

Cairo was a mesmerizing collision of not only the West with the East, but the past with the present. Egypt bills itself as the ‘Hollywood of the Mideast’ as its particular dialect is more easily understood in neighboring countries. As the only country that has made an uneasy peace with Israel after bearing the brunt of four major wars, Egypt is a crucible in the cultural and political landscape – and movies play a very great part. Movies are the only insight into America and Americans unless one has been to our great country. These impressions are both good and bad.

Freedom is a double-edged sword, I told them, wondering how a sword translates into a cultural, political and terrorist metaphor in this part of the world. One edge is the Freedom of Expression. The other edge is that such Expression does not need everyone’s approval. And that not every movie is an accurate portrayal of every community in America. As Hitchcock said, movies are life with the dull parts taken out. I convinced many that Americans also decry the coarsening of culture and humanity with film’s excessive violence and freewheeling sex. The most difficult concept to explain was the First Amendment.

Egyptians are fighting for their own Right to Free Expression. While there, I learned Egyptians are depressed that the Mubarak dynasty will be borne as power passes to Mubarak the Younger. They deplore that a young Egyptian woman was jailed for starting a national protest about higher prices on Facebook. They engage in texting and phoning about news absent from national controlled media. Religious clothing is on the rise in Egypt. Many were tolerant about it. Some were openly disdainful. When spotting women with the head to toe hijabs that cover their faces, crew-members occasionally said, “Here come the ninjas.” I was surprised, but the humor was pure National Lampoon. They may not approve, but can it or should it be stopped? Freedom of Expression? Or cultural imposition? And at what point? America will soon be confronting these questions. In a media saturated world, Egyptians worry that their society will be crushed by the Americanized ‘pornstitute’ driven exploitation of women, the loss of their Muslim and Coptic Christian Faiths and a volcano of violence. I assured them that many Americans share their concerns on decency, Faith and civility.

One sentiment stayed with me through the Saharan heat with its roaming dogs, the mud and grass huts with satellite dishes, the insane traffic of Cairo where white lines are considered optional. Even though “Menahi” was in Arabic, we all understood the hilarity of a mother nagging her son, the comeuppance of wealthy elitist mistaking a simple man for a rich rival and the desire of the downtrodden to embarrass powerful fools. Chaplin did it to perfection almost a hundred years ago.

Laughter comes in every culture, every country, every human being. Perhaps the bridge we build is made of celluloid and demonstrates our understanding of Humanity is not so different than theirs. One reel at a time…