Nagdat Anzour has broken new ground in his new TV serial, and Rafic Al-Sabban, for one, finds it heartening The distinguished Syrian director Nagdat Anzour began his career with a film set in Jordan. When this did not succeed he turned to television where, within a few years, he had made a name for himself with historical serials that blended fact with fiction. One of his hallmarks is the use of lavish costumes and stage-sets, which he fills with large casts that are invariably directed with skill, and exploited to the maximum. His camera work is deft, often revealing the psychology of his characters. It is largely thanks to Anzour that Syrian historical serials have achieved such prominence. Anzour's offering this Ramadan, Al-Hur Al- 'Ayn (The Beautiful Maidens) -- a daring and accomplished serial -- confirms what many had long suspected, that he should not restrict himself to historical serials, nor should he be confined to the television screen. The premise of is an explosion in a residential compound in the district of Al-Mohya in Riyadh, home to families from all over the Arab world, from Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Sudan and Lebanon. The explosion, planned by conservative Saudi Arabian elements, resulted in more than 140 deaths and a similar number of victims. This terrorist attack, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, claimed the lives of peaceful members of different Arab communities and caused enormous controversy throughout the region and in the West. What was all the more remarkable about the tragedy was that its perpetrators were Arabs killing other Arabs. The fundamentalists had decided the victims were deserving of death, that it was worth murdering them so that they might serve as an example for others. The serial does not confine itself to portraying the victims, their relationships with each other, the way they relate to Saudi society and how it has affected their lifestyles and customs but also, significantly, foregrounds relationships within families and across generations as they face the dilemmas brought by conservatism and liberalism. The serial also portrays the way in which the perpetrators of the attack were recruited and then brainwashed until they became the unthinking machines of death. It reveals how men can be turned into automatons that blindly obey commands in the belief that their actions will be rewarded in Paradise, not least by the pleasures afforded by al-hur al-'ayn, those maidens whose beauty is unsurpassed and who will compensate the Mujahideen for all the sacrifices they have made. It should be obvious by now that in this series Anzour has run the whole gamut of risks in terms of sensitive issues -- and the controversy that has followed in the wake of 's screening could hardly be said to come as a surprise. Anzour set his drama not just in Saudi Arabia, but in its capital, Riyadh. He has, moreover, made the central struggle one between Saudi extremists and innocent members of other Arab communities. In so doing he zoomed in on the dynamics of terrorism, its absurdity and the invisible hands that pull the strings. As we know one of the attackers was killed while a second fled. A third, though, was caught and subsequently divulged details of the conspiracy to the police. In this television drama -- which cost an estimated $2 million, a huge sum by Arab standards -- Anzour was helped by three scriptwriters. Gameel 'Awaad scrupulously researched the investigation into the explosion undertaken by the Saudi authorities which revealed the motives and recruitment techniques of the explosion's masterminds. Jordanian Hala Anis Diyab worked on the social aspects of the serial, exhaustively exploring the familial concerns of the families of various nationalities resident in Al-Mohya district and the social tensions they faced as well as the manner in which they related to each other, in terms of both ethnicity and their common interests. There is the Egyptian woman who uses her wit to hide the deep psychological hurt that has grown out of her infertility. There is the Palestinian family torn between old traditions and the younger generation's modern ways. The Syrian wife from Damascus, meanwhile, yearns to return to her country because of an obscure sense of foreboding. Added to this potent brew is a Lebanese lady and a Moroccan poetess. And then of course there are the children of these women -- the mobile-wielding on-line generation full of desires around which they can only manoeuvre in this closed society where everything is acceptable as long as it takes place behind securely closed doors. The series is unsparing in its depiction of the vexed and vexing confrontations between parents and their sons and daughters, exposing the seemingly unbridgeable gaps that have opened between generations. also tackles the desire for money that impels all these people to move to a country that treats them as second class citizens. The microcosm of the Arab world inhabiting the compound provides Diyab with much material, and she pays great attention to replicating the accents and regional variants on colloquial Arabic, lending verisimilitude and credibility to the dialogue. Anzour wisely assembled a multinational cast, making sure that the Egyptian character, for example, is played by an Egyptian actress, and so on. There remains the religious aspect of the serial, which is not shirked, and is often thought- provoking. This was the job of Abdullah Al-Otaybi, Anzour's third collaborator on the script. A onetime member of Al-Qaeda, Al-Otaybi later repented and turned instead to educating young Muslims about the dangers of fundamentalist thought, basing what he said on personal experience. Every precaution, then, was taken to ensure documentary accuracy though this is never allowed to mitigate against the artistic dimension of the work. There is, though, on occasion, a hint of didacticism, as in the lengthy scenes devoted to the interrogation of the captured attacker. He is quizzed by an eloquent Saudi investigator, and the scenes seem to contain clear cut warnings about the emergence of a new generation of fundamentalists into whom it has been drilled that the Saudi regime must be overthrown, and the Americans faught whatever the costs. Anzour has said that he went over every word in the serial with various religious authorities and sheikhs, his aim in this television drama being to warn Arabs against the dangers facing the region and the necessity of looking reality squarely in the face if these dangers are to be avoided. A courageous project, coincides with another serial, Al-Tariq Al-Wa'r (The Arduous Road), set in Baghdad, scripted by Gamal BuHamdan and directed by Tunisian Shawqi Al-Magri. It treats with refreshing honesty the issue of Afghan Muslims and the notion of jihad that underwrites many terrorist activities. These two series -- and also perhaps Al-Tariq Ila Qabul (The Road to Kabul), of which a handful of episodes were screened before it was withdrawn amid controversy -- give one reason to think that, amid the plethora of froth and silly repetitive scenes that pass for television drama in the Holy Month, there is hope yet for serious and responsible work.
