When a person thinks that he has closed the pages of the past and begun a new emotional life, he may find that some old stories did not end as he imagined, and that their effects are able to appear in the most stable moments.
From this idea, the movie “Red Flag,” which was recently received by Egyptian theaters, begins, presenting a comedic story about love, marriage, and past relationships, through a man who finds himself facing a real test of his relationship after his new life intersects with details that he thought were in the past.
The film follows the life of “Hisham,” played by Ahmed Hatem, after he enters a new phase with “Habiba,” whose character is played by Jamila Awad. The relationship between them seems to be heading toward stability, and “Hisham” finds himself facing an opportunity to build a life different from what he lived before after years he spent in multiple relationships with girls from several countries by virtue of his work as a flight attendant.
But the problem is that Hisham's old love life has not completely disappeared. Because of a friend who knows all his secrets and his desire to celebrate farewell to bachelorhood during the last trip he takes before marriage, he finds himself punished by the airline company he works for by depriving him of marriage leave, while his girlfriend has another opinion as she is forced to get married “online” while he is on one of the trips.
“Hisham,” who lives with his father, “Nabil,” who is played by Sherif Mounir, hides from his father the truth about his work as a flight attendant, despite the father’s belief that his son is a pilot captain. It is one of the stories he excelled at writing for years without anyone knowing, given his residence and work in the Emirates and his presence in Cairo being limited to visits.
On the other hand, Habiba tries to deal with what is happening around her, especially with her discovery that life with Hisham does not start from scratch, but rather carries with it a legacy of previous relationships and experiences. Her relationship with him faces a different test, not because of the absence of love, but because of the constant presence of the past within the details of the present.
Hisham's life was completely transformed after his return and his discovery that the power of attorney he issued to his father in order to contract the marriage with his wife had married him to other girls he knew before, while he was informed that his father was afflicted with a disease that prevented him from being emotional, so many paradoxes were launched between the presence of girls he was in a relationship with in his new life and his wife, from whom he is trying to hide his past, amid many comic ironies.
The film is written by Ahmed Mohy, starring: Ahmed Hatem, Jamila Awad, Nisreen Amin, Sherif Mounir, Intisar, Mimi Gamal, Saif Zahran, in addition to the appearance of a number of guests of honor, including Bayoumi Fouad and Nahed El Sebaei, and the film is directed by Mahmoud Karim.
Critic Ahmed Saad El-Din believes that the movie “Red Flag” belongs to light comedy, and presents an attempt to restore the atmosphere of the movie “The 13th Wife,” but with a modern vision that suits the nature of relationships at the present time, indicating that the work can provide a dose of entertainment and achieve a presence at the box office.
He added to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the script needed more work and development in order for the film to reach a better level,” explaining that “the idea itself was capable of producing a more cohesive comedic experience, but the treatment did not exploit its potential.”
He pointed out “the ease of predicting the course of events, because the viewer is often able to know in advance what will happen before it happens on the screen,” adding that “this point in particular is one of the most difficult problems that can face a comedy film, because the element of surprise and surprise represents an essential part of comedy’s ability to create laughter and attract the audience’s attention.”
An opinion supported by art critic Ali Al-Kashouti, who told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the scenario contained many funny jokes on the lips of the heroes, but they were not sufficient alone to present a remarkable cinematic work,” noting that “one of the film’s most prominent weaknesses is the ease of predicting events; After approximately the first quarter, the viewer can predict many surprises before they happen, which should have been avoided,” he said.
He stressed that “Ahmed Hatem made a clear effort to embody the character of the playful young man,” but that the character, from his point of view, “needed a younger man in proportion to the nature of the role, more than relying on Hatem’s handsome and calm features.” However, Al-Kashouti believes that “the role represents a good step in Hatem’s career, and could qualify him for more championships.”
He pointed out that “the presence of a group of veteran actors, led by Mimi Gamal, Sherif Mounir, Intisar and Nisreen Amin, contributed greatly to the cohesion of the film,” he said.
After years of tension and estrangement that marred their relationship, it seems that Prince Harry's sudden return to the United Kingdom has put his older brother, Prince William, on alert, amid questions about what the Duke of Sussex is planning and whether his return might open the door to any new rapprochement within the royal family, according to the Big Six website.
In an interview published on Wednesday with US Weekly, Grant Harrold, the former royal butler, said: “William will be watching his brother closely, and will try to understand his plan and what he intends to do.”
Harold believes that William is still upset by the shocking allegations that Harry made about their relationship in his 2023 memoir, “Spear,” adding: “I do not think he is happy at all about Harry’s return to the United Kingdom.”
In the same context, a source told the media outlet that “the relationship between the two brothers was already fractured,” explaining that “this step does not cause a new rift, but it places this rift in the country itself.”
The informed source indicated that the return of the Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan Markle, to the United Kingdom constitutes a “shock” for both Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton.
The source said: “They are still digesting the matter, but their initial astonishment has developed, and they are now taking a wait-and-see approach.”
As for the possibility of a reunion between Princes William and Harry, the source does not seem to be betting on this happening any time soon.
The insider said: “No one is booking a table for two for William and Harry. Everyone is eager to hear news about their reunion, but this matter is not currently on the table.”
The source believes that if this meeting occurs in the future, “it will be a slow process and will take place within a special framework,” and in accordance with the conditions set by the Prince of Wales.
In another development, a spokesman for Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, said that they were surprised by a letter sent on behalf of the King of Britain, King Charles, explaining that they were no longer active members of the royal family, and that they would remain ordinary citizens.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their two children returned to live in Britain last month, after giving up performing royal duties and moving to the United States six years ago, during a period characterized by estrangement and tense relations with the royal family.
This return was a surprise even to the closest family members, as King Charles, Harry's father, was not informed of the matter until days before the news was announced.
In a letter authorized by King Charles and sent to senior British officials on Monday, it was made clear that Harry and Meghan were no longer working members of the royal family.
A spokesman for the couple said they were not informed of the matter until shortly before the letter was sent, and that they were surprised by what had happened.
The couple has been making headlines since they left for the United States. Harry accused the royal family of neglecting him, the yellow press of ruining his life, and the government of not providing automatic police protection that would allow him to return to his homeland.
The play “What Do Survivors Dream of?”, which won the Scenography Award at the 33rd Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater, rebels against most of the conventional artistic templates and concepts. There is no traditional plot consisting of a beginning, a knot, and an end, nor a story that escalates dramatically. Rather, the audience’s seating position in the show is different and unusual.
The survivors here are all those who have gone through harsh experiences that threaten their existence and put their lives at stake, whether as a result of wars, natural disasters, or epidemics. But as events unfold, the spectator discovers that there are other areas of escape related to stormy psychological crises and violent internal turmoil, which are the other side of the dangers that beset modern man.
The Egyptian show presents these ideas through surreal scenes of a fantasy nature, which do not make the moment of survival a happy ending to a severe crisis, but rather the beginning of an exceptional human experience, in which the heroes find themselves facing forcefully imposing questions, the most prominent of which is: What happens to a person after he emerges alive from war, disaster, or a harsh experience? Does survival mean that the pain has already ended, or that the survivor may suffer the effects of the disaster at some point after the danger has passed?
The play's director, Samah Hamdi, considered identity and the search for a meaning to life amidst the chaos of existence "the secret word in trying to understand and receive that experience that deals with the idea of survival as a complex human experience, in which the effects of trauma are intertwined with pain and the desire for liberation and restoration of balance, in addition to the internal conflict that a person experiences in confronting his past."
She added to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the pictures of the survivors of the Gaza war were presented as one of the important visual and humanitarian references in constructing the artistic experience and the vocabulary of scenography, given the direct impact of trauma and the questions it raises about the meaning of survival, in addition to other human experiences.”
She pointed out that “the show moves away from the traditional dramatic structure, and relies instead on a visual structure in which a group of artistic elements intersect, the forefront of which is the visual film, in addition to a live performance that relies on the formation of physical images that interact with the moment and place, at the same time in which the audience follows the work from different and moving angles, and not from one fixed angle.”
The show belongs to what is known as “performance art,” and the theater turns into a visual space that combines drama and plastic art in a composition that addresses the eye and feelings. The idea of the main characters expressing events and situations also declines, so that the hero becomes the motor performance of the group of actors, the expressions carried by their faces, and the emotions embodied in their looks.
The show reveals the nightmarish reality experienced by those seeking survival, or who have already achieved it, through frightening and haunting vocabulary, such as skulls, bones, and blood. But what most expresses their fragility are the distorted looks that emerge from their sunken eyes, and the cracked black lips that stand out on their pale faces.
The characters seem like beings who have lost their way and are searching for meaning and identity. Mostly dressed in black, they wander along a desert road paved with sand and gravel. But at the end of the road there is a luminous crystal that carries a message of reassurance and hope, as if it were the point of light that appears at the end of a dark tunnel full of frustration, pain, and doubt in oneself and others, in the face of a world that does not care about achieving a state of reassurance.
