Present perfect

By Yousry Nasrallah

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Whoever believed that great films are only made when the director is well acquainted with the subject matter and the characters? I did, and so, no doubt, did many others.

Then along comes Tahani Rached's film El-Banat Dol (Those Girls) to prove us all wrong and show that to make a good movie one might as well tackle unfamiliar ground.

What did Tahani know about Cairo's street children? Not much, I assume. Everyone notices them; sometimes we give them a bit of money but we would do anything to avoid looking at them.

One wonders what drove Tahani to look at them, and having looked to tell us what she saw in this incredible film. Not that it is a mystery; the film reflects her motives very clearly.

The girls are beautiful. Very beautiful. And they have names: Touta, Maryam, Abeer, Donya, Reda, Iman... They are filmed as superstars would be if a director were to entrust them with a role they have always dreamed of, the role of a lifetime. They laugh; they cry; they dance; they sing; they ride horses; they fight among themselves and against guys; they smoke, inhale glue, speak of politics, fight with fathers that show up every now and then. And then, yes -- it is very important -- they give birth and they nurture babies. To put it simply: they live.

Tahani never asks them why they have left home. It is obvious that they found freedom in the street, that the streets are less horrible than their homes. They can breathe, we can see that. And yes, a beautiful movie is a movie that is told in the present tense. In El-Banat Dol there is nothing but the present. It is a present that says it all and that says, too, that there is a future.