CAIRO - The new Egyptian movie EUC (initials standing for the ‘Egyptian University in Cairo'), an adaptation of the American film Accepted, has been blasted by local film critics. Much of criticism of this Egyptian film, whose name immediately reminds the reader of the AUC (American University in Cairo), has been directed at its director, Akram Farid, who was allegedly ‘distracted' during its shooting. The film zooms in on the life of a group of schoolchildren and university students, who, rather than studying hard for their exams, indulge in smoking drugs, playing computer games and getting involved with pretty girls. Fiendishly experienced in computer science, they find it easy to fabricate their end-of-year exam marks. They also deceive their proud families by creating a website that makes their university look really prestigious. Delighted with their children's ‘wonderful' exam results, these parents proudly open their wallets to pay for the ‘expensive education' at this ‘fantastic' university. The little monsters then rent a two-storey villa owned by two young girls, and employ two quacks as the dean and university principal. However, defending their innocence, the young fiends tell the audience that they're interested in ‘an untraditional education', that exploits their talents and skills. Although the plot is interesting, in terms of the young people's ambitions, the way it develops and the subplots are disappointing; the slapstick comedy makes it even more disappointing. The fact that EUC is a post-revolution production has compounded the critics' negative reaction. Many film reviewers working for different newspapers believe that the young cast were not meant to represent the young revolutionaries, who gathered in their millions in Al Tahrir Square, calling for social justice, freedom, equal opportunities and the ousting of Mubarak. The cast in EUC are only concerned about the allegedly low standard of education in Egypt, the nightmarish final Thanawiya Amma (General Secondary School Certificate) exams and the difficulty students have in getting into the elite faculties, such as the schools of medicine. Commercialised kitsch and Farid, described as being an unadventurous director, go together, if his previous movies, Haha wa Tofaha and Aya Zonno? (Do They Think So?) are anything to go by.
