The film "El-Harif," directed by Mohamed Khan, stands as a distinctive artistic portrayal that offers a profound look into the life of the middle class in Egypt, centered around the character of Fares played by actor Adel Imam. The film skillfully navigates through the details of his daily life and his varied roles as an athlete, husband, father, resident of an old building in downtown Cairo, and a skilled worker in a shoe manufacturing workshop.
Class Consciousness Representation
In a tightly crafted cinematic format, "El-Harif" presents a realistic portrayal of the daily life of Egypt's middle class, highlighting the constant tension between personal aspirations and the surrounding social reality. Fares, as a character, embodies this tension in a complex manner, navigating life's challenges with fluctuating emotions of sadness, anger, and nostalgia.
Cinematic Strength and Visual Expression
"El-Harif" emerges as an example of how New Realism cinema uses personal narrative as a tool to understand the psychological and social dimensions of its characters. Instead of relying on major dramatic events, the film focuses on the internal evolution of Fares' character and the impact of his surroundings on his life.
Conclusion
In summary, "El-Harif" represents a pinnacle in Egyptian New Realism cinema, blending social and artistic awareness to provide a rich experience in expressing the complexities and daily challenges of the middle class. The film deserves recognition for its ability to use visual language to convey deep messages and deliver its message powerfully.
In horse race betting, bets are typically placed on the horses' names rather than the jockeys'. However, in the film "El-Harif," the bet revolves around the jockey himself, Fares. The protagonist Fares doesn't just participate in public arenas for fun; he is fundamentally exploited by a limping man, a betting mafia contractor known as "Al-Alexandri," played by Abdullah Farghaly. Al-Alexandri places bets on Fares amidst numerous gamblers, often winning due to Fares' skill, and giving him a small portion of the winnings because Fares is his "harif," or "chosen one."
When observing Fares' facial expressions during the initial matches, one notices his limited joy in winning. His face is often dominated by grimaces and stiffness rather than positive expressions, except for rare smiles directed at his young son.
The issue of "social alienation in labor" was a critical theme for the philosopher of the Frankfurt School, Herbert Marcuse, in his critique of young Karl Marx. Marx viewed social alienation as occurring when individuals are separated from their productive selves and creative capacities during social labor in capitalist relations of production. In contrast, Marcuse argued that alienation wasn't solely due to capitalist relations of production; rather, it stemmed from the alienating nature of productive work itself. According to Marcuse, creative productive labor is inherently alienating, and human liberation from alienation involves ceasing work altogether and turning to play.
However, the film "El-Harif," contrary to Marcuse's argument, reveals that capitalism also alienates play itself. The players in the film are tools of the betting mafia, and this is Fares' primary struggle. "El-Harif" is subservient to the limping man, tired of his exploitation, willing to sacrifice his own foot to sever ties with him. He becomes just as crippled as his exploiter.
Fares tries to maneuver and deceive his exploiter. When the limping man arranges a match in Port Said, Fares strikes a deal with a gambler supporting the opposing team. Deliberately losing the match, Fares collects his fee, causing disappointment and a sense of betrayal in the limping man. Fares' facial expression changes to a simple relief, feeling a minor personal victory.
Despite his efforts, the gamblers who bet against his deliberately losing team block his path, beating him with a stick and taking the money from the match he sold to their opponents.
Fares insists on rebelling against his surroundings, expressing his refusal to submit to his lover who describes him as still loving his ex-wife. He explains to his father the reason for his anger towards his ex-wife, who wants him to submit to her and give up his rebellious spirit that led him to leave Al-Tersana Club and hit his coach, who also wanted to subdue him.
At times, he rebels through simple actions like escaping from the soldier who came to take him to the section officer, even though this rebellion leads to nothing, it is a small personal victory for the player within him. When he escaped from the soldier, the soldier returned to the section to report that the wanted man had fled, and when he opened the door of the officer's room, he found Fares sitting with him.
Fares realizes that he must sacrifice being half a player and give up playing altogether. He reconciles with his ex-wife and rejects her, but he decides to play the last game, the "farewell match," the best game in the film. He decides to play with the losing team in front of "Mokhtar," the jockey of Al-Burjail, who lost to him before, and scored four goals, Fares "farewell match" freely without money targeting and without exploitation. He scores the fifth, achieving the greatest personal victory in the film. The audience runs to celebrate Fares, removing the cap covering the head of the lame man who covered his head throughout the film.
The highlight of the film "El-Harif" is that despite the happiness the viewer feels from the great personal victory achieved by Fares and temporarily freeing himself from alienation, the film returns him to reality in the end after answering his son's question: "Won't you play football again, Dad?" He says, "The time for play is gone." Playing has become a tool for exploitation, and "Fares," although he will rise socially, is on his way to a different kind of exploitation under another limp, even though he walks on both feet!
