The Egyptian Film Deil Al Samakah (Fish Tail) reveals some of the negative phenomena in the Egyptian society through a tour by the electricity meter checker in the various Cairo neighborhoods.
At the conference that was held after screening the film Saturday as part of the 17th Alexandria international film festival, Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted the scenarist Wahid Hamed as saying, “The film’s name reflects the life of the largest but marginal class in the society which cannot take important economic, political and social decisions.”
The director explained that “the tail is the most important part of the fish for its movement in water but it is the part that people throw in the garbage bin. This is exactly what goes on in the society as the decisions and simple aspirations of the majority of people who build the society are thrown in the dustbins.”
Hamed suggested that he had based the film’s story on the experience of poet Mohammed Musaad when he was working as an electricity meter checker and bill receiver.
The director Samir Seif reiterated the “importance of poet Salah Jahin’s Quatrains which are narrated by the star in the film while wandering for their political and social important vision in expressing problems and possibility of achieving better results.”
The film explores the life of a young man (played by Omar Waked) who becomes happy for getting a job as an electricity meter checker after spending years of unemployment after graduation and living as a burden on his mother in one room along with his sister in a Cairo slummy area.
Through the tour of the electricity meter checker starting from the poorer areas until he reaches the richest areas, the film depicts the life of the various social classes and the discrepancies between these classes. Poor areas are overcrowded with people in miserable conditions while rich people live in luxurious areas. It also depicts life in the middle class areas.
The film reveals the secrets of street beggars business and how this profession has become profitable. It also uncovers the secrets in the life of the hero’s beloved (played by Hanan Tork) who works as a gambling club attendant in order to support her three orphan sisters without any body in the neighborhood knowing about her night actual work. He later discovers that many people already know the fact.
In the course of the film, it tells about homosexuality in one of the rich areas giving those who practice it the opportunity to defend themselves despite its last shots which condemn the phenomenon.
Many critics confirmed that the film is one of the best Egyptian films and anticipate that it would win most of the prizes in the Egyptian cinematography contest in which five other films compete. The contest results will be announced on Monday -- Albawaba.com
