The short and winding trajectory of director Khaled Youssef’s career is not only one of the biggest cinematic success stories of the new decade, but a substantial leap in the course of mainstream Egyptian cinema.
Ever since his admirable, but muddled political melodrama debut “Al Assifa (The Storm) landed in theaters eight years ago, Youssef Chahine’s former protégé was hailed by critics as the lawful successor to Egypt’s leading filmmaker.
For a number of years, Youssef struggled to come out from under his mentor’s shadow, primarily by venturing into diverse genres and distancing himself from Chahine’s politics.
His underrated sophomore effort “Gawaz Bi Karar Gomhouri (Marriage by Governmental Decree) was a semi-political comedy that underwhelmed the box-office. Youssef shifted gears to produce “Enta Omry (You’re My Life), the country’s first romantic melodrama in 20 years.
His fourth forgettable feature “Ouija was followed by his first major hit “Kheyana Mashrouaa (Lawful Betrayal) in 2006. One of the most notable factors behind “Betrayal’s success was Youssef’s emphasis on the schism between the rich and the poor, a minor yet imperative plotline veiled under a thriller milieu.
Youssef pinched this thread and spread it over a bold, unflinching narrative about the residents of a Cairo slum entitled “Hena Maysara (In Time). The result was nothing short of a phenomenon: more than LE 18 million in grosses, multiple awards and near unanimous critical acclaim.
Fostered by his co-directed smash “Heya Fawda (Chaos), released a couple of weeks earlier from his sixth film, “Hena Maysara was the official birth certificate of the disgruntled voice of a generation waiting for a visionary to lead the revolution.
On a personal level, I never thought much of Youssef’s over-hyped body of work. His films lacked the visual flair that was always Chahine’s foremost asset, while his topics and themes veered from the inconsequential to the under-realized.
I liked “Maysara, but didn’t love it. As in his previous effort, the film is too melodramatic to paint an accurate picture of Egypt’s reality. I admired Youssef for his audacity as well as his undeniable gift in creating serious, heavy fares with popular appeal. In fact, I was probably more excited about the newfound interest in reality-tainted pictures Youssef stirred than his actual work.
In less than a couple of years, Youssef became one of the very few filmmakers in the history of Egyptian cinema who could single-handedly sell a film regardless of its stars or genre.
Arriving to theaters less than six months after “Maysara, Youssef enters the lucrative summer season with “El Rayes Omar Harb (The Boss Omar Harb). A deeply flawed and uneven fable, Youssef’s latest, nevertheless, ranks as the best Egyptian release so far this season.
“Harb is set in the unknown world of gambling casinos in Egypt; Khaled Saleh (Chaos) plays the titular role of the fearsome, stern casino owner notorious for his uncanny gambling skills and brutality.
According to legend, Harb is the son of an affluent family who deserted the country to lead a bohemian life abroad. Some claim he murdered his father and used his inheritance to build the casino.
Harb, or El-Rayes as everyone calls him, has one partner named Money, who he has pushed to the sidelines. Harb is merciless with his enemies. He ended the careers of many men and put others in wheelchairs. The casino is no mere amusement outlet; it’s an intricate, separate world with rules that govern every single action, a world controlled entirely by Harb.
Viewers are introduced to Harb’s world through the eyes of roulette dealer Khaled (Hany Salama). Khaled is an ambitious young man who was shunned by his family and friends the day he started working in the casino. Consequently, his engagement fell apart and he currently inhabits an empty flat with pretty much no life outside his workplace.
Khaled is fascinated by Harb and in turn, he begins to notice the young dealer. Soon, Khaled enters into a sexual affair with the casino’s most infamous prostitute (Ghada Abdel Razik) who also happens to be addicted to gambling and the mother of an attractive teenager.
At the same time, Khaled falls in love with enigmatic customer Habiba (Somaya El Khashab) who, with no introductions, picks him up for a one-night stand. He later discovers that she is attempting to collect the LE 70, 000 needed to save her hospital-bound husband. Habiba tells Khaled she doesn’t love him, but he doesn’t care and decides to help her anyway.
After a drunken Arab customer insults him, spits on his face and beats him up, a broken Khaled decides to retain his honor by following Harb’s suite and mastering the roulette.
After weeks of intensive training, Khaled learns how to control the game, deciding in the process the fate of his clients. After a scheme he hatches up with an Arab customer to raise the cash Habiba needs is busted, Khaled’s accomplices gradually fall one by one after Harb informally chooses him to be his heir.
A sort of an amalgam between Scorsese’s “Casino and “Angel Heart meets “The Devil’s Advocate, “Omar Harb is a highly cynical moral allegory that drastically drags after the electric first act and is saved only by superb performances and one diabolic twisted ending.
“Harb starts off as a beguiling exposé of the gambling world, introducing audiences to a number of diverse characters and some exciting details of casino operations. The comparison to Scorsese’s subversive film is, thus, unavoidable. While Scorsese spends an exhilarating hour setting the stage for the explosive and tragic events to come, Khaled is swiftly diverted by the minor pursuit and conflict of his leading character that ultimately falls short in creating a strong drama.
Simply put, “Harb’s biggest shortcoming is that it lacks tension, and for almost an entire hour, Khaled offers a few weak, non-gripping storylines that seem to be heading nowhere.
Youssef hasn’t shied away from depicting graphic violence in his past films. Yet, and for some inexplicable reason, Youssef sidesteps violence, choosing instead to cram his film with frank sex scenes.
Several critics, and audience members, have complained about the most explicit sex scenes Egyptian cinema has witnessed since the heydays of the 70s. Truth be told though, the sex is instrumental to the context and tone of the story. Implications or timid references simply would not have worked, and would have made it lose much of its already diminutive energy.
Yet, the kinds of mad ferocity of cinema’s recent great monsters like Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan in “Sexy Beast for example is sorely missing from “Harb, reducing the impact of Saleh’s charismatic character to small, distant bouts of dread that never fully blossom.
Saleh is the definitive star of the film, exhuming self-conscious, controlled vigor and power difficult to overlook whenever he’s on screen. Salama, in his best role to date, displays heartbreaking, genuine vulnerability. However, it is broken by the middle of the second act when his character indulges in Salama’s quintessential cockiness.
Last week, in my review of “Cabaret, I noted that the ending of that ill-conceived film defined the entire movie, and that’s where it fails. The ending of “Harb also defines the entire picture, this time though, with a totally different result.
As jolting and thought-provoking the ending is, it defies Youssef’s structure and therefore, cheats the viewers. While the ending – reminiscent of David Fincher’s “The Game – is thoroughly defective and the execution a tad theatrical, the ideas that emerge in those last moments recast the film in an entirely different light.
On one level, Hany Fawzy’s script raises questions about the fundamental nature of God, free will and the role of humans in constructing the big picture only God can control and see. But, since this is essentially a Khaled Youssef film, “Harb comes off as an intelligent, intriguing meditation on the concept of authority.
Khaled, Habiba and nearly every cha
racter in the film are minions in a grand circus run by Harb; puppets whose sole function is to maintain the boss’ authority. Nothing in Harb’s world occurs spontaneously, every action serves a hidden agenda fully controlled by him.
Even the feeble presence of goodness in his universe exists only to counterbalance the corruption. The inhabitants of Harb’s casino only have two choices: succumb and fully accept the rules or be cast away from his disfigured Eden for good.
Some critics have written off “El Rayes Omar Harb, considering it a minor work compared to “Maysara. The film is indeed incoherent and has serious flaws – slightly amateurish even. Yet, it remains the most interesting work of Youssef’s career so far and, hopefully, a sign of more promising works to come.
