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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 August 2000 Issue No. 493 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 August 2000 Issue No. 493
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons On screen
Any Given Sunday (1999)
The mission of director Oliver Stone seems to be exploring the spirit of America as it wages both actual and metaphorical wars. His works are cinematic journeys through hostile worlds. The Vietnam War is an obvious battleground. His camera has also recreated the political conflicts deep behind the John F Kennedy assassination and the Watergate scandal. Furthermore, under the analytical lens of Stone the corporate corridors of Wall Street, radio, TV and music are also depicted as theatres of war. In these films the individual hero is a defeated warrior overwhelmed by powers too great to resist.
In Any Given Sunday, his latest film, Stone tackles football in much the same manner. For Stone, sport is war by other means. He explains that it is "a conflict in a thoroughly ritualised form; it's both religion practiced on a Sunday, and at the same time our violent American version of the gladiator games of the Roman Empire."
The resulting film is a wild cinematic journey into the warrior world of the Miami Sharks -- a professional football team in a desperate bid for the championship Pantheon Cup. The team, however, is more like a band of rogue Samurai than a united platoon. Stone explained that he choose to concentrate on "the conflict between the individual and the team ego." In the course of events Stone hits upon his favourite theme -- how "the private and the corporate are merging in 21st century American life."
In a brilliant cameo Charlton Heston plays the commissioner of the fictional Associated Football Franchises of America (AFFA). A younger Heston also appears in another key scene, a dinner inter-spliced with footage from the classic chariot sequence in 1959's Ben Hur. See Listings for cast details, venues and show times.
Reviewed by Mohamed El-Assyouti
Around the galleries
The small hall of the Cairo Atelier hosts the second exhibition of works by Jihan Rif'at Kamel. Her distinctive style is fast becoming one of the most widely appreciated developments in contemporary Egyptian art. A dentist by profession, Kamel has chosen one of the most challenging media to fulfill her artistic vocation -- découpage. Her oeuvre brings together a profound awareness of old traditions (notably Japanese), a keen three-dimensional insight and a mature vision. The art reflects the inner state of both artist and audience. Kamel has a pure infectious enthusiasm that is obvious in all her work.
Jihan Rif'at Kamel
Reviewed by Nagwa El-Ashri
