Egyptian film makes mockery of peace with Israel

[Behind the Aegis]

"CAIRO: A quarter century after the Camp David accord, a film released this week in Cairo shows that Egyptians' uneasiness over peace with Israel dies hard. Sharif Arafeh's "An Embassy in the Building" seeks to humorously depict the average Egyptian man's rejection of normalization with the Jewish state.

The plot centers around an Egyptian businessman and womanizer who, upon returning home after getting rich in the Gulf, finds to his horror that Israel has opened an embassy in his building.

Popular slapstick comedian Adel Imam is petrified when he discovers the Star of David-adorned flag floating above the balcony nearest to his flat overlooking the Nile.

The actual Israeli Embassy is located on the 18th floor of a similar building turned into a virtual bunker in Cairo's Giza neighborhood - a stone's throw from the University of Cairo, which is a stronghold of anti-Israeli sentiment."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=17069

[Jim Sagle]

1. Peace comes slowly, in small increments.

:(

[pelsar]

2. israeli arab film maker.....

was forbidden to come to the egyptian film festival last year....seems he was considered a "traitor" for staying put in 48 and not leaving.

I think the irony was lost on the egyptians.....those arabs who stayed "to protect their land" are now considered traitors....those that left are the heros......

[Jim Sagle]

3. And those who lionize those who left are "progressives''...or something.

:wtf:

[Monkie]

4. and here i was thinking comedy was a healthy outlet and a way of healing

thats what comedy does,
and it mocks?
And the best comedy mocks the powerful.
Nobody laughs when you tell a joke about a disabled person.
The house roars when you mock a bully.
Its human nature...

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Comedy is, mockery is not.

If this were about watermelon eating Blacks, I doubt you would find anyone laughing. There are times mockery can be humorous. But, to play up anti-Israeli stereotypes is not funny.