Issue No. 601
Culture
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29 August - 4 Sept. 2002 Issue No. 601 Culture |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Boring loyalty
Youssef Rakha sits through Heneidi's latest
Sahib Sahbuh (His Friend's Friend) is not a bad film. But then nor is it very good. It is remarkably uninspired: as an evening of light entertainment it proves disappointing, as a Mohamed Heneidi vehicle it is compromising. And so the latest product in Al-Adl Group's formerly lucrative Heneidi line -- directed by Said Hamed, it was advertised as a sure-fire summer hit -- turns out to be not worth the price tag, a contention that finds as much support in the response of the critics as in the scarcity of viewers.
The glossy parting of Heneidi's new-look haircut, just one aspect of the enterprise, and tellingly one of the more interesting, proves more off-putting than amusing. Nor does the inclusion of Ashraf Abdel-Baqi -- the most thinly spread of the younger generation of comedians and yet another victim of the sub-star phenomenon -- do much to save the day. Abdel-Baqi's by now well-worn mannerisms -- feigned slowness, stuttering overenthusiasm, neurotic clumsiness -- prove insipid and unconvincing.
While Maher Awwad's dialogue can be stimulating in parts, neither the dramatic framework meant to support it, nor the manner in which it is delivered, manage to make much of its occasionally funny subtleties.
Indeed Heneidi's image as the loyal son of the popular neighbourhood -- well-meaning, selfless and faithful, this struggling anti-hero always, and almost always ludicrously, achieves his aims against the odds -- is fast turning into the kind of unthinking "presence", as lazily premeditated as it is complacently executed, that has undone older and brighter comedy stars -- and ones who had, by the time they gave in to this particular brand of vanity, achieved far more than Heneidi is likely to ever attempt.
The short man of new-wave comedy is undoubtedly talented and, vanity notwithstanding, in this film manages to try out different methods of inducing laughter, turning himself into a woman (a ploy most recently adopted by his collaborator-turned-competitor Alaa Waleieddin), engaging with Abdel-Baqi in the friendly, squabbling routines intended to define the relationship between two middle-class Egyptian soul mates, dressing up as a clown to practice the tricks of the puppeteer and circus entertainer; introducing a circus setting (complete with backstage, literal roll-in-the- hay); conversing with an LE8,000 ostrich from his potential father- in-law's ostrich farm and even freezing the action of the film, Matrix-wise, to highlight a mobile phone conversation with the girl he loves.
Insofar as it has a theme at all Sahib Sahbuh is about friendship; it is, less obviously, about loyalty and betrayal, moral consistency, greed and the search for happily-ever-after love. The Arabic title is an expression meaning "true friend", signifying "a friend who truly cares for his friend's well-being and prosperity" rather than merely acting as though he does. And the point of the story must be that, even if the more greedy, less focussed of the two protagonists appears to stray, he is ultimately as loyal and caring as his less greedy, more practical and morally sturdy counterpart.
Osama (Heneidi) and Gad (Abdel-Baqi) are childhood friends, neighbours and Music Institute graduates who at the same time receive a two-year fellowship enabling them to work in the Gulf, where they can build their financial future. In the film's brief prelude they are about to set out together when a small problem arises: who will look after Gad's mother and Osama's grandfather? The two friends make a complex arrangement: one of them is to travel and stay for two years while the other keeps the two elderly people company; after two years Gad, for whom Osama selflessly sacrifices his own opportunity to travel and make money, is to return promptly and take over the responsibility.
Five years later Gad, who has abandoned his fiancée as well as his friend, returns for a week's holiday and finds the two elderly people have grown so used to the company of each other they are ready to get married. Osama has been extremely kind to them, and through his work as a children's party clown he has also met Pakinam, the rich man's daughter to whom he becomes completely devoted.
Though the action is facilitated by Gad's delayed return he is present in Cairo throughout the film's duration, every so often phoning his employer in the Gulf to extend his initial, week-long vacation. And Osama, initially out of self-interest but increasingly for the love of his friend, his friend's increasingly desperate fiancée and mother, tries to keep him by a wide variety of means.
Osama tests Gad's loyalty by devising a ruse to convince him that he, Osama, has a brain tumour and only a few months to live. In the end, even after discovering the ruse, Gad turns out to be willing to spend his five years' savings on the dowry Pakinam's father demands. Touched by Osama's refusal to let Gad do so, the father finally relents. Osama marries Pakinam and Gad decides to stay and join Osama in looking after his mother and marry his own fiancée. And that is not to mention that the two elderly people (they get married halfway through the film) are already, happily, husband and wife. All ends perfectly.
Yet for all its happy tidings the film leaves the viewer dissatisfied. Too many (shoddy) performances reinforce the low quality of Khaled Hammad's score; Heneidi is no singer, and neither is Abdel-Baqi. The acting is stilted, the characters too obviously contrived. And the many glaring glitches in Awwad's already mediocre plot undermine the necessary disbelief.
A "star-based" film like the present one is often referred to as a vehicle, but on seeing Sahib Sahbuh you cannot help wondering what, exactly, it might be a vehicle for. The film certainly does not convey Heneidi's career any further along the road to success; it is more likely, rather, to compromise his credibility as a comedian and hamper his progress.
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