30 August - 5 September 2001
Issue No.549
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 30 August - 5 September 2001 Issue No.549 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Limelight
Chahine, again and again
A little shy, a little lost, with a little stutter and a little jitter, yet all you notice are his eyes. Behind those huge dark-rimmed glasses, his big black eyes seem both joyful and sad. They are always busy searching, scrambling, darting to and fro, here and there, up and down, often seeming to make a full circle lest some happening behind his back is missed. Brilliant and alive, they seem to be lit from within with a perpetual flame. Nothing evades him. He is a walking, talking, recording, absorbing, vibrating, palpitating cinematic machine, registering and storing everything in his conscious, unconscious and subconscious mind, to reach for and use in his next cinematic adventure. Every two years or so, this gentle giant rises from a seemingly long slumber, to present us with his artistic composition of people, places, ideas, and sensations on his favourite canvas, the silver screen. He is the only director of his generation who still stands today, powerful dynamic and productive even at 75. He is the one, the only Youssef Chahine, affectionately called "Joe" by one and all.
He has dominated the Egyptian film scene for the last half a century. Whether his films are understood or not, whether they are box- office hits or not, whether you admire him or not, the indisputable fact is that he commands attention with every production since his first film Baba Amin in 1949, to his last product Silence, We Are Shooting, now showing on several screens across the country. This latest tournure is his dream come true. It is his first complete root and branch musical in the Hollywood tradition. Chahine has incorporated music in many of his films, but has dreamed of making a heart and soul musical for decades. Since his early years as a sentimental young boy, sitting alone in a huge dark auditorium basking for endless hours in the pleasure and excitement, of the Hollywood picture-perfect musical, idolising the feathery grace of Fred Astaire, and the athletic masculinity of Gene Kelley. In later years his passion for the latter led him to dedicate the third film of his autobiographical trilogy, Alexandria, Again and Again - To Gene Kelley.
Born January 1926 in Alexandria, Egypt to a middle class Christian family of Syrian-Lebanese origin, he was every bit the product of his place of birth. Like Alexandria multi-national, multi-cultural and multi- religious, Chahine developed a keen sense of the social, political, and religious differences surrounding him, which laid the foundation for a body of work, full of rage against man's intolerance towards his fellow man. After graduating from the private boys' school Victoria College, he convinced his family of his need to study film in the US. Despite their modest resources the family complied and the skinny, wiry, boy with the big glasses and a will of steel landed in Pasadena, a small California town, 16km from Los Angeles, in 1946. For the next two years he dedicated himself to the study of every aspect of film-making at the Pasadena Playhouse, a film and theatre workshop. On his return, he convinced producer Alvise Orfanelli to trust him with directing his first film Baba Amin, 1949, starring Egypt's favourite leading lady, Faten Hamama. For the next decade or so he would make five more films with her. He worked hard with a passion that never failed him. By 1958 he was ready to produce his masterpiece, the jewel of the crown. The film is considered one of the best films ever made anywhere. It is Bab El-Hadid (Cairo Station). For a journey of pure pleasure, catch a ride to "Bab el-Hadid". I strongly recommend you watch this rare gem, that to this day still identifies Egyptian cinema around the world. The setting is the Cairo railway station and the hidden underworld beneath the rails of its locomotives. Watch the crippled newspaper boy, Qinawi, brilliantly played by Chahine himself, as he woos and loses his heart and his life to the voluptuous pop-vendor, Hanouma, superbly rendered by the talented Hind Rostom. His eyes will hurt and haunt you for many days and many nights. The world was alerted to this great talent, this consummate, passionate film maker, whose name has become synonymous with Egypt and Egyptian cinema, as has Abbas Kiarostami's with Iran, Lars Von Trier with Denmark, and Milos Foreman with the Czech Republic. The film world has bestowed upon him honour upon honour, the likes of which no other Egyptian director has received.
1973 - Golden Tanit, Carthage Film Festival.
1979 - Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival.
1996 - Complete Retrospective, Lucarno Film Festival.
1997 - Life Achievement Award, Cannes Film Festival.
1999 - Showcase of his work, New York Film Festival, and on, and on .
Moreover, he has collaborated in several co- productions, with Algiers, Russia and France.
Always encouraging an army of young hopefuls, he spots talent, nurtures and embraces it, and to him we owe the birth of many an actor and director. He is to be credited with the discovery of a specially handsome young man whom he convinced to star in his next picture. He coined a new name for him, one that would have a 'Hollywood' appeal. He chose 'Omar' after the US General Omar Bradley. He chose 'Sheriff', familiar to all Americans as the title of Police chief, and thus Omar Sharif was born, and went on to have a glorious international career in film.
Among his 36 films is the story of the Algerian struggle against the French occupation, Jamila Bohreid, with the prominent Egyptian star Magda, in the title role. He received wide-world attention for his film Destiny (Al-Massir), an official entry at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. The setting is Muslim Andalousia in the 12th century. Ibn Rushd, Averroes, the great philosopher is condemned for teaching the classical Greek philosophers, by those who wish to limit the scope of man's intellectual freedom in the name of religion. Deborah Young of Variety, described it as "the most courageous frontal attack on Islamic fundamentalism to come out of the Arab cinema to date......a brilliant allegory condemning the politically driven fanaticism of present times".
In his 52 years of Egyptian film making Chahine has emerged with a style that is not American, despite his US training, not French, despite his close collaboration with France, and not Lebanese despite his family's ancestral roots. Chahine is pure Egypt. He is a fervent Egyptian patriot, a dedicated Egyptian artist. His art has broken all barriers, racial cultural and religious, reaching far away lands and far away people, just as he had dreamed as a tender young boy, in a dark movie house, in the city of Alexandria
At present 'Joe' is packing his bags and heading for Italy, where a special tribute awaits him at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. This is Youssef Chahine, never at rest, labouring and toiling away as he has throughout his 75 years, for the love of cinema. He can irritate and provoke, he can even enrage and offend, but he will ultimately engage and excite. And while Egyptian cinema presently wallows in vulgar comedies and cheap romances, Chahine always presents us with a work of quality, regardless of how you feel about it. None but himself could be his parallel. Never a conformist, always an original, Youssef Chahine dances to a different drummer. Like Egypt, this gentle giant can never be dismissed. He has steadily and with great determination, crafted himself a niche in the annals of world cinema and to us he is no less than an Egyptian icon. He rises 'again and again' to claim his place in the realm of immortality.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page