Rashda Ragab explains why viewers of the second part of Al-Masraweya are disappointed Following the end of part one of Al-Masraweya by the death of Jaffar and Hammad who belonged to the Sakhaweya family, viewers of the soap opera written by prominent writer Osama Anwar Okasha were anxious to see the second part screened in Ramadan. If they compared, they came away disappointed. The second part, as opposed to the first, leaves much to be desired. Al-Masraweya part one, subtitled "Down in Beshnin", tackles the relationship between the government and the people, democracy, and the rights of citizens, all through Fathallah who decides to become mayor of Beshnin with the current mayor on his death bed. He tries to seize a powerful position and extend his family's lands. To do so he marries a beautiful and rich Egyptian Turkish girl, Noray, whom he loves all the same. He learns much about politics on his trips to Cairo. From this angle, Okasha gives us a good idea about Egyptians who tried to rid themselves of the British occupation and recapture their freedom under the leadership of nationalist Saad Zaghloul. In part two, "The Countryside and the Cities", we are given a good idea of the composition of the small cities through immigration from the countryside and sometimes Cairo, to these cities which Kafr Al-Sheikh symbolises. Fathallah has to protect his throne from the danger of the Sakhaweyas, represented by Saber, son of the old mayor, and others. But, instead of showing the confrontation between the two families -- Hasayna, the family of the mayor, and Sakhaweya which is seeking revenge for their son who was killed by Abdallah, brother of the mayor -- the writer was preoccupied with other themes. Hence the confrontation, which was supposed to take place in the first six episodes, was postponed until the 25th. The first of these themes is love, rarely tackled by Okasha, but here given sudden attention in many ways. Shaher, the mayor's brother, and Khadra, the mayor's ex-wife, is a relationship referred to at the end of part one and the first of Okasha's unfulfilled love stories to be tackled in part two. It is a relationship that led the mayor to send them to different exiles, disguised under the mask of jealousy. We were told later that it was a trick to protect them from the Sakhaweyas. We never know exactly why both lovers stopped thinking about marriage when they were allowed to return home. More surprising and just as irrational was Latif's love and marriage proposal to Turkish Princess Kizmat. Actor Said Abdel-Ghani, now in his 70s, was miscast as Latif, a 50- year-old who suddenly wants to remarry and have a child. Rawya, Latif's sister, fell in love with Haj Ragab who is twice her age, and is forever trying to make sure of his feelings towards her. Lawyer Farid Tolan's proposal to Princess Kizmat is far more significant. Okasha wants to display a communist lawyer's character since communism was one of the political trends in Egypt at the time. Yet Tolan is an opportunist who wants to marry Kizmat, a rich lady, to help his political party by using her money. But how can Kizmat, a refined woman who looks down on Latif and rebuffs him, fall so easily in love with such a bumpkin lawyer without ever suspecting his real aims? Shakespearean comic interlude (comic intervals between two tragic scenes) is used to postpone the two families' confrontation. Kizmat's conversations with her niece Noray before travelling to Kafr Al-Sheikh, are always funny, as are her Arabic lessons taught by Rawya. Yet the audience is bored especially when Rawya abandons serious talks for petty chit-chat. Songs made another unreasonable interlude. Every episode has more than one song with no real dramatic need. They aim to make Fathallah an epic hero, yet the soap tells the real stories. One such song was sung by Noray to her baby at the chateau garden, a bad remake of the famed song by former star singer and actress Shadia, Seed al-habayeb ya danaya enta (My son most beloved one) in one of her old flicks. The character of Mayor Fathallah, skillfully personified by prominent actor Mamdouh Abdel-Alim, was dramatically changed. Instead of a hesitant, kind, and loving person, as portrayed in part one, he is now very powerful and somewhat villainous. He is driven by revenge and his intention to get rid of his enemies resulted in a fight in which more than 40 were killed based simply on suspicion. It was a battle that led to feelings of guilt which in turn ruined his happiness. Actor Abdel-Alim is excellent as the powerful Fathallah. Part one's very persuasive mayor, Hisham Selim, would have never been as good as Abdel-Alim for the new character. To the audience's astonishment, the mayor disappears in the end, by literally flying away. Okasha previously referred to the mayor's fairy-tale power through a relationship between Fathallah and Sufis led by Sheshtawi, a strange character who had a big impact on Fathallah by foretelling the future. Yet the ending is odd and unreasonable. It seems that its only aim was to attract the audience to see the third part next year just to figure out what happened to the hero. Noted director Ismail Abdel-Hafez was not successful with the last scene in which Noray looks for Fathallah, an imitation of Isis and Osiris in the old ancient Egyptian legend. To generate more drama, Okasha ends this fictional myth in the penultimate episode. Another shortcoming is Okasha's tendency to spare stories for part three; many characters were unreasonably portrayed. When Saber's plot to kill Fathallah was discovered, he was easily left to escape. Later he even returned to ascend the throne of Bashnin. Bakr, who claimed he killed the mayor -- we never know exactly what happened to the mayor -- was arrested and left to live on Asi Island, a made-up name for an isle to which the punished are sent, a place where most people cannot escape . Bakr manages to escape, and returns for revenge, eyeing Bashnin's mayoral post along with his uncle Abbas. Syrian actress Mays Hemdan, who personified the mayor's wife in part two, was not fully successful. Actress Ghada Adel was better in the first part. Hemdan, a beautiful, new face, needs more experience. Actress Manal Salama, or Gazia, the first wife of the mayor, was excellent in a very well written role. Talented Salama has to win a prize for her role. Actor Sami Maghawri was outstanding as Gawli who tries to get what he wants. The rather big production afforded the opportunity for many actors and actresses to excel. Newcomer Abeer Mounir is a superstar in the role of Princess Kizmat. Equally brilliant is Abeer Seif as Rawya. Big names, including Abdel-Rahman Abu Zahra, Mohamed Metwali, Mahmoud El-Hedini, Samiha Ayoub, Wael Nour, Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Wafik and Nabil El-Halafawi, did their best. But to avoid making the final part pale and unattractive, Okasha must rethink his supposed six-part Al-Masraweya soap. Or else its fate will be similar to that of the lame fifth part of his prominent work Layali Al-Helmeya, or Helmeya Nights. The audience hopes the third part of Al-Masraweya will be as good as the first. For now, let's put the middle on the side.
