Progressive Netflix movie sparks uproar in Egypt

Netflix wanted to strike a blow with its first pan-Arab production

, “Friends of the World” in Arabic.

Objective achieved: in Egypt, the most populous of the Arab countries, some are agitated to banish him and others rush to see him.

It was the expected sensation of the beginning of the year: the film brings together well-known actors from Lebanon and Egypt, the two behemoths of Arab pop culture.

And it is the remake of a successful Italian feature film,

– whose French version,

, is already a hit on the online platform.

Three days after its release,

, about a game between friends gone wrong, topped the ten most-watched films on Netflix in the Arab world.

A film that “aims to break family values”, according to an MP

But in Egypt, a lawyer seized the Ministry of Culture and the censorship service to “ban” a film which, he says, “aims to break family values” and the very zealous MP, Moustafa Bakri, has called for an extraordinary session of Parliament to look into the matter.

“There are more than twenty pornographic scenes”

The story is that of three couples, two Lebanese, an Egyptian, who meet for a boozy dinner.

During the evening, they agree to play a game: put their laptop on the table and share each message or call with the whole group.

Wives discover mistresses, friends of betrayals, husbands of liaisons and the group that one of them is homosexual, in an almost closed door.

Moustafa Bakri, he claims to have scrutinized each plan.

Results ?

"There are more than twenty pornographic scenes", he asserts, while no erotic scene, not even a kiss, appears in the film, which Netflix prohibits for children under 16 for its coarse language.

The deputy, who regularly sets himself up as a guardian of morals, has gone on all the sets of the most watched talk shows in the country of 102 million inhabitants to demand nothing less than the outright banning of Netflix in Egypt.

“Defend homosexuality”

The offense of

?

Show a father discussing with his daughter her first sexual relationship, after the discovery of condoms in her bag by her mother and "defending homosexuality when we are an oriental society", accuses Moustafa Bakri.

“There is a difference between not denouncing a phenomenon and encouraging it”, replies film critic Tarek al-Chennaoui, in a country where homosexuality is not expressly prohibited, but where the repression of LGBTQ + people increased since the election of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in 2014.

A woman concentrates all the criticism

And above all, argues Tarek al-Chennaoui, Egyptian cinema has never been cautious.

Nearly 20 years ago, audiences flocked to theaters for

, "Sleepless Nights" in Arabic, the story of four couples who tear themselves apart after a dinner with friends with, on the menu, male impotence, adultery and the gap between social classes.

Several Egyptian films, including

, adapted from the novel by Alaa Al-Aswani, have already dealt with homosexuality explicitly.

And ironically, in 2016, the prize for best screenplay at the Cairo Film Festival went to…

 !

But in a country where conservatism and a rigorous reading of Islam have continued to progress, one woman is the focus of all the criticism: the only Egyptian actress in

, Mona Zaki.

"It's a courageous and original film"

On screen, she plays a woman torn between a stepmother who despises her and a husband who no longer touches her.

In the city, Internet users reduce the actress, who played in

alongside her husband Ahmed Helmi in their debut, to her sole status as a wife.

Rather than addressing her, they challenge Ahmed Helmi, one of the most famous Egyptian actors who is not in the Netflix cast.

“How could he allow his wife to play this role?

“, writes one.

Others go even further and ask him to repudiate her immediately.

"It's a courageous and original film", retorts on Facebook Khaled Ali, a great figure of the Egyptian left.

“Everything he talks about does indeed exist in our societies, no offense to those who prefer to ignore it, keep silent or attack,” he concludes.

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• Movie theater

• LGBT movement

• Homosexuality

• netflix

• Egypt

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