CAIRO - A revolution is made so it can bring change; it changes people, it's meant to change a system, changes the way we think, and brings to light things that were previously hidden. Many filmmakers tend to have a message in their films; they want to bring a similar kind of light to the subjects which they are presenting to their audience, so they may learn something new in the revelations which follow. These don't have to be concrete facts, but may instead be a "revolutionary kind of thinking." "Revolution" will no longer become a theme in films; it will take on a genre on its own, which is understandable; it's hard to avoid the revolution for filmmakers. So far, no post-revolution made films have seen a wide release, but there have been two pre-revolution films that have managed to seep into the theatres to ride the waves. "Al-Fagomy", about the life of the poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, is one, and the other is "Sarkhat Namla" ("A Cry of an Ant"), which seems to resemble many of Khaled Yousef's films, although is actually from Sameh Abdel-Aziz. But it seems to follow the same basic rhythm of a Khaled Yousef film, or at least, that's what the trailers have made it out to be ��" which may be one of the reasons it took so long to come out, or least until now. "Sarkhat Namla" is marketed as the truly the first film to be "made about the revolution," even though it was made pre -revolution. If this is an indication of what's to come, then what's new? If most of the trailers for the film were actual scenes from Al Tahrir Square, which were shown on the news non-stop, then surely one must imagine that the film will touch on that. If the truth was already told, and the whole world has already commented on what has happened, then what can these films tell us? They must present something new, or at the very least, they must attempt to personalise the impact and effects of the revolution so the audience may connect with it on a more intimate level. If these films are based on accounting the injustice of the old regime and then we'll see from that perspective. In these two aforementioned films, this is somewhat inevitable because of the mere fact that they were made before the revolution, so we can't fault them too much on this level. The basic outline of what brought on the revolution is clear and this is apparently what Sarkhat Namla's plotline seems to follow; but that might only be happening because we haven't seen any post-revolution films about the events of January 25. It's doubtful that we won't be seeing a string of lookalike films in these upcoming months, but at the core of the films, there will be a lot of differences in the ways they chose to tell their stories. One thing will definitely see is that we may not be able to tell the "revolution trailers" trailers apart. If you take a look at the two films out now that concern the revolution, whether it's "Al-Fagomy" or "Sarkhat Namla," the only difference in the trailers that we can clearly see is that one film is actually about Ahmed Fouad Negm, whereas the latter is about a fictional character who perhaps may not have lived such an extraordinary life as the poet. In "Sarkhat Namla," Amr Abdel-Galil plays an ordinary Egyptian citizen who goes through all the suffering that millions of Egyptian endure (hence the title, which strongly suggest this "Everyman" theme), and it leads to a revolution. In both films though, we get the same shots, the same level of excitement, and the same kind of feel. It's as though if you see one film, you don't have to see the other, because they're the same movie with different names. It seems a little silly to expect that there will be nothing new to offer or different perspectives when it comes to films about the revolution. Indeed, one could argue that one of the basic points of the revolution was to highlight the injustices done to the average Egyptian, individualising them rather than depersonalising them. Rather than being the so-called "mass of meek people" enduring the casual cruelties on daily basis, and thus being perceived as a faceless population, the revolution turned this on its head by presenting such movements as the Facebook originated "We are all Khalid Saeed", which created a personal face (among many) for the revolution. Egyptians haven't seen it all, even from watching the news non-stop, we would still need to go behind certain curtains and reveal new territories, and if there is nothing much to offer within these films, then at least the magic of cinema should trick us in those trailers that we are watching something new. And of course, since there are over 80 millions Egyptians, and many, many Egyptians who participated in the revolution, the idea that it's all the same is not only patently false, but an injustice to the premise of the revolution.
