The Eid al-Adha 2020 cinema season can be considered the worst of all. By a simple comparison, we find that last year, in the same season, the films "Born Rizk 2", "The Blue Elephant 2 ″," "The Treasure 2", and "Fantasy Mata", films that achieved revenues. Excellent even if some are technically different.
But this year, only two films, "Maqam Al Maqam", were shown on Shahid, "Washer" in theaters, and the two films were already disappointing.
Electronic display
The movie “The Owner of the Maqam” was shown on “Shahid VIP” platform, so producer Ahmed Al-Sobky avoided the possibility of material loss, and this contributed to the arrival of the movie to a large fan base in record time, which was not in any way whatsoever with the regular cinematic show.
After the show started less than an hour ago, the movie was pirated and placed on various "illegal" platforms and sites, which made the film a boom on social media among the hungry audience to watch any new movie.
At the same speed, controversy began over the film, its quality, and its dangerously close approach to popular myths, and its distance from authentic religion, with commentaries on some of its technical problems.
Devote to legend
"Maqam al-Maqam" tells the story of Yahya, a young businessman who builds a housing complex in one of the areas where there is a shrine for a person called "Sidi Hilal", and one of his partners warns him of the demolition of the maqam, but he does not care and does something, and then bad incidents start, including His wife enters into a coma, and he begins to try to appease the saints.
This story struck at the death of all attempts to get rid of the idea of the righteous guardians, and the intercession that dominated the centuries over the Egyptians, as some viewers' craving for such a false religiosity returned.
The movie contrasts sharply with what the film's writer Ibrahim Issa discussed in his previous movie "The Guest", which dealt with a conversation between a secular person and my predecessor, in which the logical thinking style appeared, but in the movie "The Owner of the Maqam" it seems as if he threw this method aside to deposit Popular myths of viewers.
Jesus wanted the film to focus on the idea of faith, and the relationship between man and his Lord, whatever his sins or social class, so we find that the drug addict and the previous prostitute send messages to God through Imam Al-Shafi’i, and the director has tried to blackmail the viewers ’feelings in these scenes, especially to generate tears of faith from Onlookers.
Character profiling
For the second time in a row, Ibrahim Issa, as a screenwriter, presented completely stereotyped characters. In the guest film, we have two main characters. One is an educated secular writer, and the other is a young Salafi laden with words and ideas whose origins are unknown.
This time in the movie “The Place Maqam” did the same, but on a slightly wider field, we find before us Yahya, the traditional businessman who cares only for material success, neglects his family and does not care about his son, while his wife is a beautiful elegant woman who tries to restore the love of her husband in various ways, in addition to The two characters presented by Bayoumi Fouad; The two are Halim and Hakim, the partners of Yahya the twins, where one represents good and the other evil, and they were distinguished in a very ridiculous way by clothes and a bite in pronunciation.
Although the twins wore one clothes that distinguished each other during their presence in Yahya's office, at the ceremony they shared roles inexplicably. The good character wore the black suit, and his evil twin wore the light brown suit, as well as in the scene of the demolition of the shrine, until the distinction between Halim and Hakim became very confusing to the viewers.
Questions that the film did not answer
If we take drama and art seriously, The author did not put in our hands answers related to the plot, such as how did Yahya reach the addresses of the murid and visitors to the maqam?
Throughout the events, the writer did not explain to us why "Yahya" is so materialistic as if this were taken for granted? Or why does a big businessman like Hakim believe in the shrines and intercession? How was the elusive materialist businessman convinced that his wife's recovery would be achieved by following the advice of those around him by appeasing the saints?
This is in addition to a completely incomprehensible personality, which is a "spirit" presented by Yusra, a woman who we do not know if she is real or an illusion, appears from time to time to live until she guides him to get rid of his sins and restore "the consent of the saints." At the same time, others see her but do not know who She or the reason for her being around them without any sense of surprise, as sometimes a nurse appears and another doctor, and there is no objection to her appearance a security person in the hospital itself.
A spirit personality completely contrived and even out of the context of the movie, the writer's reflection on diving into metaphysics, and his braiding with thorny matters such as belief in intercession and communication with God.
Besides naivety, Yehia's wife deceives the doctors who see her condition stable, but she is in a coma and they do not find a medical explanation for her condition, though everyone accepts the matter, while she gradually improves by "raising Yahya spiritually", according to Rouh's plan, and what is the relationship of Yahya's visit to the church and reading the "Fatihah" in it Approaching Imam Al-Shafi’i.
The first Sophie movie
Ibrahim Isa announced several times that the movie “The Owner of the Maqam” is the first mystical film ever, as if it starts a new cinematic genre in this film, and without clarifying the basics of this mystical film, does every movie that talks about intercession and the righteous saints is a mystical film? If that were the case, 1968's "Qandil Umm Hashem" would have been, or it was a mystic.
In the end, “The Owner of the Maqam” is definitely not the first mystical film because there is no such thing as a Sofia film in the first place, but it is a very modest film, in terms of idea and content, or technically speaking, even technically, the film was marred by a problem in “mixing” or mixing sounds , To make the soundtrack sound above the dialogue, and to make viewing extremely disturbing.