CAIRO - A heated dispute has erupted in Egypt's filmmaking community over a call to obscure the image of toppled president Hosni Mubarak, whenever it appears in local films. Mubarak's detractors want videos, depicting him and his wife sitting in concerts marking national events, removed from the Egyptian TV archives. They have reminded their opponents that something similar happened immediately after the 1952 revolution, when the Army officers who had seized power destroyed the image of the ousted king Farouq, as it appeared in black-and-white films produced under the monarchy. But film critic Moustafa Darwish does not approve the latest suggestion, warning that only dictatorial regimes, like that of the old Soviet Union under Stalin, often try to erase the past of their nations. “Whether we like it or not, the images of Mubarak in films do tell us something important about Egypt's modern history. If we delete them, we might be accused of counterfeiting our history,” he explains. Filmmaker Nader Galal agrees. Although he was the first to call for the removal of the portraits of Mubarak in governmental offices and other public places, he says this shouldn't be the case with films and television serials. “The images of the former president draw the viewer's attention to a particular period in the nation's history,” Galal explains, adding that this will be of benefit to future generations. “That's why the late king Farouq was the focus of a recent TV biopic.” He describes the removal of portraits of king Farouq in films under late president Gamal Abdel Nasser as a ‘scandal'. “If we're really going to remove Mubarak's image, then why not listen to the Salafists' suggestion to destroy the Great Pyramids?! “Salafists say that the Ancient Egyptians were kafir [non-believers]. So we should therefore destroy the shrines they built!” he adds ironically. Further irony is provided by veteran film critic Tareq el-Shenawi, who says that Ancient Egyptian kings used to destroy the names, drawings and achievements of their predecessors. “But of course we shouldn't get rid of the visual record of the nation's memory,” el-Shenawi says. Last month, an Egyptian court ordered the names of Mubarak and his wife, Suzanne, be removed from public institutions and squares.
