Despite a penchant for gangster films, Hani Mustafa is not impressed by Al-Gezira In a sub-genre of action movies, events take place behind the scenes in the world of gangsters, which affords opportunities galore for the sort of violence that attracts movie-goers. This sub-genre was popularised by Francis Ford Coppola in his blockbuster The Godfather, skillfully written by Mario Botso. The Godfather -- the three parts of which were released in 1972, 1974 and 1990 respectively, garnering a number of Oscars -- appeared to have whet the appetites of Hollywood filmmakers who produced variations on the genre throughout the following three decades. Among similar films was Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas which won him the Silver Bear at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. Such films were not devoid of psychological depth and can, at their best, be compared to other major award-winning films of high artistic calibre. In Donnie Brasco, directed by Mike Noel, the scriptwriter and director analyse the personal relationship between a federal agent, played by Johnny Depp, who is planted within a Mafia in the USA, and a gangster, played by Al Pacino. The film presents us with the dilemma faced by the federal agent who feels affection and comradeship with Al Pacino, and is torn between his identities as an officer and a gangster. The Egyptian film Ard Al-Khof (Land of Fear), directed by Dawoud Abdel-Sayyed, bears a strong resemblance to Donnie Brasco in portraying an officer who becomes close to the life of gangs. Abdel-Sayyed, however, attempts some existentialist questions and moves on from the idea of an officer planted in a gang to the more universally applicable one of people stranded in places where they do not belong. In the film Al-Gezira (The Island), the scriptwriter, Medhat El-Adl, and the director, Sherif Arafa, attempt to make use of the notorious incident in which a drug and arms dealer, Ezzat Hanafi, was arrested and executed in 2006 after a state security court accused him of appropriating state- owned land, cultivating it with drugs, taking hostages and resisting authorities' attempts to arrest him in Al-Nekheila village in Assiut. The film is advertised on the billboards as being based on a true story, in reference to the Nekheila incident. From the beginning of the film, however, the filmmakers have a character from the police force speaking to the officer Tarek (played by Mahmoud Abdel-Moghni) say that the investigation should be reopened and all loose threads tied so that the story of Hanafi would not be repeated. The line is clearly used to bring the events in the film closer to fiction and distance them from the real-life story. But the events that unfold on the screen are almost identical to what went on during the arrest of Hanafi. The film is replete with political criticism woven into the dialogue. In one of the scenes the father, Ali El-Hifni (Mahmoud Yassin) tells his son, Mansour El-Hifni (Ahmed El-Saqqa), that he is dying. Among his famous last words are bitter statements about how the government executes drug dealers while it sells drugs in pharmacies, and how the authorities would arrest a person trying to enter the country with a gun but if he smuggles in a thousand weapons he becomes a minister. Such dialogue exploits the growing criticism of the government for commercial and entertainment purposes. The script presents a corrupt policeman who supports Mansour El-Hifni and uses him to gain promotions through the deal he strikes with him in which he turns a blind eye on El-Hifni's activities in return for his help in arresting terrorists and minor drug dealers. There are several subplots, the first of which centers on the star-crossed lovers Karima (Hind Sabri) and Mansour. There are three large families in the island, Al-Rahaia, Al-Najaiha (Karima's family), and Al-Hanfia. The Najaiha refuse to side with the leader of the island when he appoints his city- educated son Mansour as his successor. Battles and hatred ensue that make the marriage of Mansour and Karima impossible. Mansour marries her friend from the third family. In another subplot, the relationship between Tarek, the young officer assigned to collect information about the island, and Mansour El-Hifni himself is developed. At first, Tarek considers him a highly dangerous criminal and everything seems clear-cut in his mind. He plans to get to the bottom of things and assumes that his brother-in-law the officer in charge of the area, Rushdi (played by Khaled El-Sawi), will give him the necessary information. It comes as a shock to both Tarek and the audience to learn that Tarek's father, a retired police general, who is in hospital being treated for lung cancer, is the one who first helped Mansour in exchange for services to the Ministry of Interior. Rushdi is following the same pattern with Mansour. This part of the drama becomes a vehicle for criticism of certain government policies, especially the infamous war against armed Islamist groups in the 1990s which involved arming civilians and using them to fight on behalf of the ministry. Contrary to what happened in Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Al Pacino, and its Egyptian version, Al-Imbrator (The Emperor), directed by Tarek El-Erian and starring Ahmed Zaki, Arafa does not seek to end the film in epic-style by having the police storm the mansion of the drug dealer who resists then is finally defeated. Instead, he uses the only meaningful female presence in Mansour's life to help arrest him. Still, the ending is not free of melodrama.
