Promotional poster for the series “A Moment of Anger” (Al Jazeera)

After the success achieved by the series “The Seventh Harsha” last year, many were waiting for the new work presented by the stars Ali Qassem and Mohamed Shaheen, so it was good news that the series “A Moment of Anger” included them together, co-starring Saba Mubarak and Mohamed Farrag. But did the work live up to expectations?

A promising start

After a promising beginning, and first episodes characterized by suspense, excitement, and a promising story, the series “A Moment of Anger” drifted towards a hybrid trend that combined comedy and exaggeration, which disappointed some, although that did not prevent them from continuing to follow to find out what the fate of the main character would lead to, which made The work is popular on social media platforms and search engines.

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The story of the work tells the story of Youmna (Saba Mubarak), the wife who works as a cook in a restaurant and lives a life full of oppression and frustration because of her narcissistic husband, who does not miss an opportunity without belittling her. In a moment of brute anger, she hits his head with one of the cooking utensils, causing him to fall dead, and she must dispose of the body and hide all the evidence. To remove suspicion from her.

But things go completely wrong, sometimes when one of the family’s children sees the body before disposing of it, and sometimes when the heroine discovers that her neighbor filmed the crime and is trying to blackmail her, and she must either carry out his requests or surrender herself to the gallows. All of these events take place in conjunction with the relatives of the disappeared husband trying to find him or find out who Behind his absence, each in his own way.

Laughing crime

Although the work is not adapted from any other series, the method of dealing with the plot seemed closer to foreign drama, specifically the series “Fargo”, in terms of the crime that occurred for a random reason, followed by a lot of black comedy and the actions that the heroes were forced to commit, which soon lead them to commit other actions. Worse, like a snowball that has rolled and can no longer be stopped.

As the events unfolded, the work turned into a satirical comedy series, not a black comedy, as the plot was full of happy coincidences and quickly solved problems, starting with the heroine killing her husband and hiding him in the kitchen cupboard while she celebrated her birthday with his family, passing through the neighbor who orders her to carry out difficult tasks whose purpose we do not know. All of them are achieved simply and easily overnight, all the way to the heroine’s friend who works in a women’s rights association, who helps her hide her crime, even if that means committing other crimes.

Even the end seemed funny and naive, even if its makers took into account the victory of justice. In this inconsistent framework, the performance of the heroes themselves seemed dull and illogical, and although the majority of them felt either anxiety, tension, or fear, they embodied their characters with a fair amount of cynicism and disdain, thinking that this It is what it means to be a comedian.

Exaggerations ruined everything

In addition to the acting and plot, the author and director got it right in several other artistic matters, such as makeup, specifically the appearance that Mohamed Shaheen appeared with, with his bushy mustache, and Sarah Abdel Rahman, with her long red wig, striking makeup, and many accessories.

It can be said that Sarah's entire personality seems to be integrated into the general atmosphere of the work, as she is a young woman who is a pro at reading tarot cards and believes in many superstitions and exploits them to reach the perpetrator, and the strangest thing is that what she does bears fruit.

“A Moment of Anger” also included artistically weak characters, such as Hassan Abu Al-Rous, who played the role of a poet who recites weak poems and says meaningless sentences all the time in a way that has nothing to do with comedy, or the one presented by the Lebanese actress and model Reem Khoury as Shaheen’s wife, who is years younger than him. Without any dramatic justification for the need for her to be of Lebanese nationality, especially since she has limited acting abilities, and what is strange is that she also participated this season in the series “Apartment Works.”

Glory to the music

The most prominent positive point of the work is its soundtrack, which did not include music only, but also some underground songs that were used in the background of the scenes as an alternative to dialogue and to express the internal transformations that the characters go through, such as the song “Crime Scene” and the song “Honey Has Expired” by Donia Wael and Al-Waili, and even the ending sequence. And the song “Lamma,” which expressed the plot and attracted Dounia to it.

It is worth noting that Donia Wael and Al-Waili previously shined when they collaborated together to present songs in the series “The Seventh Harsha.” The latter also succeeded with Samar Tariq in singing songs for the series “The Killer of Giza.”

“A Moment of Anger” is a 15-episode drama that combines suspense, excitement, and comedy, written by Mohab Tariq and directed by Abdel Aziz Al-Najjar, starring Saba Mubarak, Ali Qassem, Mohamed Shaheen, Nardine Faraj, Sarah Abdel Rahman, Reem Khoury, and Safwa, in collaboration with Star Mohamed Farag.

Source: Al Jazeera