CAIRO: Egyptians want to tell the story of the January 25 revolution. To do so, a leading actor is teaming up with a filmmaker to show the uprising on the silver screen. The story being discussed will not be a high-budget endeavor, well-known actor Amr Waked – who came to international fame for his role in Syriana – and director Ibrahim Batout, but instead will look at the revolution through one character. Tentatively titled “R for Revolution,” the movie plans to dramatize the role of ordinary Egyptians and the “extraordinary things” they accomplished during the 18-day protest movement that ousted President Hosni Mubarak on February 11. “More than a film about the revolution it is actually a film about the people who made the revolution and why,” Waked said in comments published by CNN. The film will tell the fictional story of a computer engineer who had been tortured by the thugs of Hosni Mubarak's intelligence service, and when the revolution starts he's afraid and passive. Then the engineer's ex-girlfriend, a State TV news presenter and staunch Mubarak supporter, defects and joins the uprising that is gripping the country, which is loosely based on real-life events during the 18 days of protests. According to Batout, the film will use real footage from the protests, as he said he began shooting as the revolution persisted. All the scripts were improvised by the actors, and Batout still goes to Tahrir Square almost every day as protesters are back and demanding further changes from the military council now running the country, CNN reported. “What you see right here, right now is a miracle man. And I come here every day juts to get some energy. This was totally unthinkable only a few months ago,” he said. “And when you see that you cannot really sleep without letting out. And my only way of letting it out is by making a movie.” There is no firm release date yet for the movie, but Batout says he hopes for a release later this year. BM
