Why Are Middle-Eastern/Arabic Movies Ignored?

I chat on dozens of movie sites, and movies from this region are ignored. I must admit I have seen barely more than a dozen or so, but a couple of years ago, after seeing a documentary on TCM, I saw an Egyptian movie (Chit-Chat On The Nile) and it was so different, yet so great. I remember seeing "Cairo '30" (which was probably the best, not my favorite that I mentioned above), "Cairo Station" and "There Is A Man In Our House". I can't remember the others, but I'm guessing they were probably directed by Henry Barakat, and starred Famen Hamama or Omar Sharif. Adapted or written by Mahfouz, who's shown to be one hell of a writer. I actually remember reading about him in Time Magazine when I was a kid. I also remember telling my aunt, who said, "He was kind of perverted" and went on to say how great Khalil Jibran was.

Last year, TCM started showing a documentary series called, "Women Make Film", and they were saying how many women were producers, directors, writers, and leading ladies, of course. I added movies to my watch-list... And a few days ago, someone on another site started an Egyptian thread.

There's some really good Iranian movies. It seems like half are very metaphysical. There's a movie within a movie within a movie. I can't remember the title, but there was one about this little girl actress, and it's done so well, I wasn't sure if it was part of the story, or if it was part of the movie they were filming (which we don't discover until around that time). Abbas Kiarostami is another name. "Close-Up" is an amazing idea, but "Taste of Cherry" is my favorite of his. Even the ending is unique and metaphysical.

What I've admired the most is the writing, regardless of who it is. A lot of social commentary, sometimes political, mixed in with love stories, and always searching for some kind of truth within the main characters. The "heavies" are always boorish and logical, while the third wheel (the single unmarried man) is always the romantic one. The women can't be described. Sensuous, but modest. Romantic, but trying to be responsible. Traditional at times, but constantly breaking with the past. I should point out most of the movies I have seen were from the 1950s and 60s.


"Dry Summer" is an excellent Turkish movie. Great story, acting, etc.

One thing that's common in all of them is the beautiful poetry. With the story, themes, writing, acting, cinematography, music - everything.

I also remember studying the first civilizations in school here in the US.. I still remember reading about the first city of Ur, Mesopotamia, the beginning of alphabet/writing (Sumerian), the wheel, and a million other inventions, such as irrigation, the Tigris and the Euphrates, the pyramids, the center of the three major Abrahamic religions, and this isn't ignored in the movies, even if it's not explicit. Sometimes you'll be watching a love story, and a couple meet by the pyramids, or someone tells their friend to meet them in Mosul, but of course the more intellectual movies mention politics, the history of societies, you name it.... The US is such a young country, there's only so much we can extrapolate and make into a movie with the limited palette.

I also remember reading how one movie in the 1950s had such an influence in Egypt, that it made it much easier for women to divorce. "JFK" is a horrible movie (Jim Garrison is the hero, not stone) but it also helped to change the law when it came to transparency.

I'm obsessed with chronology, capturing the zeitgeist (as opposed to the typical world events) in part to learn about history, trends, influence, comparing fiction with real life for its time, evolution of film, so I would start with the earliest movies, and move forward, to see how they got here at this point in history. I would see more, but finding subtitles can be tough, but there are some movies on YouTube (usually the popular ones, not the best) and one I really liked from 1972 that I saw yesterday after scrolling around Prime and seeing the interesting title, "Empire M", and it's a really unique movie. I just saw "The River of Love" but the translations could use improvement, and I might try to upload my own.



Have you seen any?

 

Maybe they are less accessible?

 

That is partly true, but speaking strictly to movie buffs (especially those who post on forums) they know where to get everything.

I must admit I haven't seen more than one or two Chinese movies, but plan on watching more. "Lost In Beijing" is the only one I can remember, but I want to start with the earliest and move forward.

 

For something cotemporary and realistic I highly recommend "Wadjda" it is available on Netflix.

Written and directed (her directorial debut) by Haifaa al-Mansour. It was also filmed in Saudi Arabia.
"According to the director Haifaa al-Mansour, it took five years to make Wadjda. She spent most of the time trying to find financial backing and getting filming permission, since she insisted on filming in Saudi Arabia for reasons of authenticity."

 

I think part of it is celebrity. People know Bergman is Swedish, but probably can't name 5 other directors from Sweden. Japan and Kurosawa, even Abbas Kiarostami and Iran.

 

The governments in those countries are not exactly friendly to free expression and the arts. The films you mentioned are the exceptions rather than the rule. One of my favorite films by an Iranian, Persepolis, obviously could never have been made in Iran. Rather it was enabled by an expatriate who moved from Tehran to Paris. Israeli films are interesting, too, but generally no fun to watch. One of the best I saw was Lebanon, where most of it was filmed as if you're in a tank. But once the novelty wears off, you simply are faced with the claustrophobia and fear associated with tank warfare. If you have a choice to escape your reality for a couple hours you don't want to spend it in a tank.

 

I'm fortunate here in my corner of Los Angeles to have a fairly large Irani ex-pat community.

One of the upsides is that our local branch library (which has a Persian librarian/curator) has a vast collection of Iranian films. And the best new films make local theatres (or did in the before times).

I'm very impressed by the quality of the best Iranian cinema. One of my favorites is Bashu: The Little Stranger (1986).

I've seen far fewer Arabic language films. Pity, as I studied the language and (while I'm not fluent) I generally catch a far portion of incidental dialogue (especially if Levantine dialects).

Bill

 

Try "Fauda". Very good series about anti terrorist team in West Bank etc.

 

In answer to the thread question, I don't know. However, the Iranian movie A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Persian language) is a fine horror movie: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

 

Limited distribution I would wager. Generally films from those countries only get shown at festivals here. At one point Kiarostami was all the rage in arthouse circles but I can't think of an auteur who has had such an impact since.

 

Very cool. Out of curiosity, are there many movies from the 50/60s available?

 

Look for "The Band's Visit", a very funny Israeli film about an Egyptian orchestra getting lost while travelling to a ceremony to play.

Youssef Chahine's four "Alexandria" films and "Cairo Station" are classics from Egypt.

I believe Netflix has "Cairo Station" right now.

C.

 

Thank you for pointing this out! It's on Amazon Prime, but you have to subscribe to an extra channel which I haven't done. I already have Netflix though.

I've heard a lot of good things about this film.

 

Different planet?

 

Saw it...in a theater.

 

I wish I could remember the title of an Iranian film my wife an I saw on one of the movie channels once. It was about a little girl trying to find her lost ball. It was a very pure film, allowing the audience to empathize with the characters without regard to culture or language.

 

@MortSahlFan I recommend you checkout the Criterion Channel streaming service - They offer a vast assortment of films from Iran and the Middle East (and from all over the world too).
Just type IRAN in their search and you will be rewarded with a great selection of films.
I recommend The White Balloon a 1995 Iranian film directed by Jafar Panahi

 

GREAT movie

When it ran at The Art Theatre in Long Beach they even put her name on the marquee!

On a related note, TCM ran a Turkish movie during their Women Make Film series called "10 to 11" about an old man who was an obsessive collector.

When you can see yourself in a character from another culture in another country, you realize how much we all have in common and how small the world really is.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1422184/

 

Thanks. I've seen a lot of movies from Criterion (through TCM), but don't have the channel, since I have a weak connection, as well as a really old computer.

I'll try to do an automatic DVR of Jafar Panahi - cheers!

Speaking of Iranian movies, I love "Taste of Cherry".. "Baran" is another great one.

 

That's the movie I was trying to remember in the post just before yours! I got some of the plot details mixed up. Thanks for the inadvertent reminder.

 

The Day I became a Woman is one of my favorite from Iran