CAIRO - “THE vast majority of human beings are not interested in reason or satisfied with what it teaches," Aldous Huxley once said. We may not always be interested in reason or logic, but we are governed by it unknowingly. When we watch a film that portrays what is assumed to be normal life, we assume that the film is also governed by the same logic; but does a film have to contain logic that is reflected in reality? Even if a film is illogical in a sense that it doesn't follow the same rules that are followed in the real world, the film should (theoretically) follow its own internal logic. It may not make sense to the world outside of it, but that doesn't necessary make it the film's logic unfounded. Action films get a lot of flack in Egypt for being unrealistic, but the point of action films isn't to be unrealistic. Hollywood action films are praised for the over-top sequences, and enjoyed for their vigorous plot points, but Egyptian films are mostly criticised for the very same reasons. It might be because the films are not done as well, but what does a "good action film" mean anyway? It's not just over-the-top sequences or special effects, unless that was the film's point, but it's mostly the griping plot which should be what pulls in the audience's interest. However, these action sequences mostly tend to be a distraction, or fillers, especially in Egyptian films and Hollywood summer blockbusters. The big criticism of these films is that they don't reflect the kind of society that they are supposed to portray. Is that they are supposed to follow any logic or reflect on the society they portray? They don't, because what should be true in any film is embodied in the characters. Logically, they should follow a pattern or a rule; a great example is the film "Being John Malkovich" (1999). The film's plotline couldn't be farther away from reality; it's about a broken-down man who works in an office building, on the 9th floor, crouching all the day because it really is half a floor. He discovers a tiny door that puts you inside the mind of the actor John Malkovich for 45 minutes, and then you get dumped down in New Jersey. The film follows no rules at all that would make it rational in reality, but what makes the films real is that the actors convey their emotions in response to what's happening in a way that we can identify with, even if we can't identify with the situation.We suspend reality for the situation, but it's much harder to identify with a character that acts in a totally irrational way unless " again " there's a reason behind it, be it external forces acting on them, or perhaps they they're going crazy. For example, in the recently-released film "Black Swan", the main character played by Natalie Portman gradually acts more and more irrational as the film goes on; we see things that couldn't possibly be happening in the "real world" " like the environment the film is set in. However, we know we're seeing events from her perspective, and we come to understand her crumbling sense of personal reality. This is done by the fact that there's a pattern to human emotions; the exterior doesn't need a sense of authenticity, but the interior does. Perhaps this failure to understand this basic fact has resulted in the failures of many Egyptians films. Khaled Youssef, who claims to be showing reality in his films, is in fact solely focusing on the outside of what he perceives to be reality.In Youssef Chahin's Haduta Masriya (Egyptian Story, 1981), the film tells the story of a well-known director who goes in for heart surgery, and in the midst of this, we go into the protagonist's inner child ashe is swimming in his veins, while his family and friends and people he met in his life are put through a trial as to how they mistreated him. The film is, in a way, a fantasy but tells the bigger story of being disconnected from your childhood, and how that affects your relationship with others. The film created its own logic, its own world, but the film here is relatable on a human level. No matter how extravagant or over-the-top the surroundings are, it comes down to simple human emotions, which is a paradox in itself since human emotions can be really complicated " much more so than any illogical environment. In a way, film already follows its own logic. It has its own language; people in film don't speak like they do in real life if you really think about it. We have adapted to this; we have to follow the rules that the cinema world has already set for its audience.Just like in a theatre world, where we the audience and the actors completely ignore that fourth wall, and just focus on these characters. In the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), a romantic fantasy that uses elements of science fiction, nonlinear narration and neo-surrealism to explore the nature of memory and love; the film doesn't follow any narrative progression that the audience is familiar with. However, the film sets its universe right from the beginning, and the audience just gets involved in these characters regardless of what's around them or what universe they are in. Films are meant to evoke and trigger emotions, so whether or not they are set up in space, or underwater, or play non-linear; strong, well-developed characters are really all we need.
