The series “Al Mishwar” is one of the most important works shown during the Ramadan series 2022 season.

This is for several reasons, the first of which is of course the name of its hero Muhammad Ramadan, and the second of which is the name of its director Muhammad Yassin, so that the work attracts two different types of viewers who rarely meet.

The Al-Mishwar series was written by Mohamed Farid, and Dina El-Sherbiny, Ahmed Magdy and Bayoumi Fouad co-starring Mohamed Ramadan, and it is produced by Saadi - Jawhar, and it comes - as usual from Arab series in the holy month - in 30 episodes.

The series of the journey and the diverse audience

There is a sharp and lasting division over Muhammad Ramadan;

On the one hand, he is the first hero of the popular classes, resembling in his style and form many young people who considered him the face representing them in cinema and television, and on the other hand, he is despised by the middle and upper class of viewers, accusing him of being the most important reason for the spread of rudeness and bullying on their screens, and that he has an influence negative for their children.

While Mohamed Yassin is a largely elitist director, he is best known for his iconic works such as "Heat Wave" and "Afrah al-Qubba", series that gained popularity due to their complex ideas, big character transformations, and distinctive visual choices.

The Al-Meshwar series combined these two different sides, to be able to unite a dissonant audience under the banner of following one series that easily became "Trend" (one of the most interactive on social media) at the Arab level.

He possessed both populism and elitism at the same time, through an exciting story, which revolves around Maher and his wife Ward, who work in a salt factory in Alexandria, and live with the husband’s aunt in a modest apartment, but the viewer learns shortly that this is not their stable life. They are on the run from something, or at least they are only here in one of the stations of their journey, or as the title of the series "The Journey" shows.

A scenario that takes us to the heart of the event

The episodes of the series start at an advanced point in the events, as the two escaping heroes - indeed from a danger - live in caution, disguised as a poor couple, while in fact they are waiting for the demise of a threat, after which they can start a new, happier and more stable life, and with the passage of the episodes First, we find out more about their past, the reason behind this trip and the false information they are spreading about them.

The series missed the usual introductions to presenting the main and secondary characters, and the relationships between them. Rather, it throws the viewer into the heart of the event, relying on his intelligence to organize all the information received on him in a clever randomness, which makes him integrated into watching, which requires him to additional effort, and different from the prevailing stereotype In the first episodes of the Arab series.

This method also increases the excitement of the viewer, as he builds conclusions all the time, and has to wait for the next episode to discover how true it is, or a new piece of information that reveals more secrets of the mystery that he is trying to unravel, and becomes part of the two heroes' escape journey, and a third person in this journey.

The other side of Mohamed Ramadan and Dina El-Sherbiny

Both Mohamed Ramadan and Dina El-Sherbiny suffer from almost the same problem, which is their participation in works that are always prepared for them in particular, that is, characters drawn to suit them, which brought them into a cycle of stereotyping, and presenting the same role with different variations, which does not give them enough space. To show their acting talent, but the situation is different with the series "Al-Meshwar".

Director Mohamed Yassin is known for his outstanding ability to manage actors, for example, Iyad Nassar's best roles were with him in "Heat Wave" and "Afrah al-Qubba", which makes the viewer wonder where Nassar's talent goes in the rest of his works.

In "Afrah al-Qubba", Mona Zaki is also removed from the mold of a kind, lovable girl, to present a frustrated complex woman who makes wrong choices all the time while trying to survive.

Here in the series "Al-Meshwar", Muhammad Yassin replays the game, so Muhammad Ramadan took from the "cliches" the popular boy "Al-Jada'" who is looking for some revenge or proves his worth to a crushed man who enters a greater adventure than him, but he is also trying to survive for a better life.

In terms of appearance, Muhammad Ramadan certainly fits with the nature of the character, but the most important thing is that it gives him more spaces to show his acting abilities that almost no one has paid attention to so far, as he can move from joy to anxiety and between love and kindness in simple, uninitiated moves.

The same applies to Dina El-Sherbiny, who returned to the role of the popular girl that she previously played in her beginnings with Mohamed Yassin himself in the series Hot Wave, but here she was distinguished by a lightness that corresponded to a clear chemistry with Mohamed Ramadan in all their shared scenes.

Impressive visual experience

As usual from Mohamed Yassin and director of photography Abdel Salam Moussa, the series provided a very rich visual experience, especially with filming in the salt extraction area in Alexandria, which the Egyptian viewer was not accustomed to, and exploiting this color contrast between the pure white and the dry brown skin of workers from working under the rays of the sun.

Muhammad Yassin painted his series with a clear popular touch, from the place where Maher and his wife lived, on the sea in a remote and poor area, to the most beautiful sequence in Ramadan 2022 so far, to the scene of their escape through a popular Alexandrian-style wedding, filmed in a way that we do not see in Arab works , from the smooth movement of the camera, the accuracy of the actors and the focus on their bodies and faces interacting with the difficult time they are spending.

The series is certainly still in its infancy, but more is expected of it, after he has placed himself in competition for the best in this heated Ramadan season.