The second film portraying defeated men is the adaptation of Nagib Mahfuz’s novel with the same title: Karnak Café (‘Ali Badrakhan, 1975). ‘Ali Badrakhan (1946-) is the son of the famous pioneer of Egyptian cinema, Ahmad Badrakhan, and has himself made fame with several critically and popularly acclaimed films, like Shafiqa wa-Mitwalli/Shafika
and Metwalli (1978) and al-Go‘/Hunger (1986), both starring the
director’s wife, Su‘ad Husni, who also participates in Karnak Café. Upon completing his film studies in Cairo, he continued studying for another two years in Italy. After his return to Egypt, he was assistant-director to both his father and director Youssef Chahine, for example for the latter’s The Sparrow. Badrakhan’s Karnak Café was a box office success and was the start of a series of films criticizing the July revolution’s outcomes (Abu Shadi 1998: 21).
The main actor in the film, Nur al-Sharif (1946-), was a rising star in the 70s, often playing roles of underdog men. His younger characters in films were also often subjected to violence – both physical and psychological – as is explicitly the case in Karnak Café. Nur al-Sharif was initially a football player for Zamalek, according to Mahmud Qasim (2004: 579). He showed his football talent in the film Cat on Fire, playing the role of a gay football star. Nur al-Sharif studied theater and
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started acting in plays, after which Adil Imam introduced him to director Hasan al-Imam. His great performance in the latter’s film Qasr
al-Shoq/Palace of Desire (1969) meant the start of his film career. Al-
Sharif started out as the underdog anti-hero, convincingly thanks to his short physique. Slowly his characters developed towards more ‘adult’ men, portraying patriarchs in films and serials alike. One of his most famous recent parts is as the patriarch Sa‘d al-Dali in the popular Ramadan-serial al-Dali, or as the shoe-polisher turned rich car trader in The Yaqoubian Building.
The film Karnak Café is filled with great names from Egyptian cinema. Nur al-Sharif plays alongside the popular actress Su‘ad Husni (1943-2001)11 and other famous star actors. One of them is Kamal al-
Shinawi (1921-2011) in his role as horrid secret service director. Although he often played romantic roles in his younger years,12 later
he played roles of corrupt officials. Farid Shawqi in his role as Zaynab’s/Su‘ad Husni’s father, has grown old and lost his dominant position, while the former belly dancer Tahiyya Carioca (1919-1999) keeps up her role as tough, ‘baladi’ woman in the role of Zaynab’s mother. Muhammad Subhi (1948-) plays the revolutionary Hilmi, in love with the elder café-owner Qurunfila, played by the beautiful, although nostalgic, Shuwaykar (1935-). The film boasts an impressive cast, and many more famous actors make an appearance, but for the analysis of the film’s portrayal of a ‘defeated man’, it suffices to focus on Isma‘il, the character played by Nur al-Sharif.
Produced after the 1973 war, the film is allowed visual criticism and a condemnation of the human rights’ abuses during ‘Abd al-Nasir’s rule.13 The main character in this film is Isma‘il who, while taking his
11 Su‘ad Husni was not only famous as an actress; she was also often seen dancing and singing in her films. She is still revered for her songs up to this day, as well as for her more realistic portrayal of women in films. Her star persona is very different from the idealistic ‘first lady’, Fatin Hamama, or other contemporaries to the latter. Instead, Husni is a little daredevil, though usually conforming to ‘proper’ female behavior in terms of her sexual activity.
12 A famous film in which he plays a cute swindler is the 1951 romantic comedy Master Bulbul (see also chapters 5 and 9).
13 Because of its explicit images regarding human rights abuses in ‘Abd al- Nasir’s prisons and police apparatus, the film was strongly criticized and at
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daily nap in the café, hears on the radio about the 1973 war and the Egyptian army’s crossing of the Suez Canal. As a doctor he suddenly realizes he can help. As a man, he feels empowered and encouraged once again. His appearance does not give away his potential, either as a doctor or as a man: he looks forlorn, the miserable reminder of a once promising future. When he arrives at one hospital, he is denied entry unless he has a permit issued by the hospital’s director. He recognizes his friend and former fiancée Zaynab working as a nurse, who will try to put in a good word for him with the director. The rest of the movie is a visualization of Zaynab’s story to the hospital’s director about what turned Isma‘il into the present failure. Zaynab is telling the events that happened to Isma‘il and their friends Hilmi and Qurunfila, as part of the larger narrative, the 1973 war. This also has consequences for the way Isma‘il’s masculine performance is portrayed; it is Zaynab’s recounting these events that made him into the miserable man he is now.
The men in this film are diverse and on more than one occasion the film turns to the issue of a generational clash rather than simply depicting the regime’s repressive methods. On the one hand there is the young generation, like Isma‘il and his friends from university; on the other hand there is the group of elder educated men who sit at the Karnak café liberally discussing politics and the role of art in society. While these young men and women, as “children of the revolution” (Mahfuz 2011: 69), are portrayed full of activity and ambition, the elder men are miserable and feeble remnants – therefore they are never arrested; these elder intellectuals’ words pose no threat to the regime. Another important space in the film, apart from the café, is the local popular neighborhood (the ḥāra) where both Isma‘il and Zaynab live. Within the ḥāra are a few recognizable male characters, namely
ma‘allim Hasaballah (played by ‘Ali al-Sharif)14 with his enormous and