THE CLOSED DOORS/ AL ABWAB AL MOGHLAKA (1999, Egypt, 110 min.), directed by Atef Hetata; screenplay by Atef Hetata; cinematography by Samir Bahzan; with Ahmed Azmi (Mohammed/"Hamadi"), Sawsan Badr (Fatma), Mahmoud Hemeida (Teacher Mansour), Manal Afifi (Zeinab).  In Arabic with English subtitles.

 

Please answer the following, and do longer answers to three.

 

 

1.         Discuss the title.  What are some of the doors that are closed in the world of this film?

 

 

 

 

2.         Discuss the film’s setting.  This is our first foray into a city in the Arab north of Africa.  Discuss the way that Cairo comes across in this film.

 

 

 

 

3.         The film’s central character is young Mohammed (known by his nickname of Hamada), and the film is in many ways the story of his coming of age.  Discuss him.  Is he a complex character?  What does he want?  How does he change?

 

 

 

 

4.         Discuss Hamadi relationship with his mother.  What kind of woman is she?  How does she come across?

 

 

 

 

5.         Although we never see him, Hamadi elder brother, Salah, has an important role to play in the film.  Discuss his role.  Also, what role does his father play?

 

 

 

6.         Discuss the role of Hamadi’s teacher.

 

 

 

 

7.         How about Zeinab, the neighbor who works as a prostitute?  What role does she play in the film?

 

 

 

 

8.         Discuss Hamadi’s relationship with Awadine, the young street hustler.  What function does he serve?

 

 

 

 

9.         One of the key dynamics in the film is Hamadi’s growing attachment to religious extremism.  Where does that come from?  What are the forces pushing Hamadi in that direction?

 

 

 

 

9.         How does the film portray Sheik Khaled and the other religious figures in the film.  What does the film want us to think about them?

 

 

 

 

10.       The film reaches a very tragic climax.  Does this turn of events seem forced, or does it seem like the natural culmination of what comes before?  What is it that drives Hamadi to this violent act?

 

 

 

 

11.       The film was of course made before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, but it clearly comes out of the state of tension that already existed in the Middle East.  In fact, it is set at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991.  What does the film have to teach us about conditions in the Middle East?

 

 

 

 

12.       Some people treat North Africa as if it is a completely different world from the rest of Africa.  Yet if you think about it, you can see in The Closed Doors some of the themes that we’ve been seeing in other films this term.  What are some of the overlapping issues that might be said to apply to all of Africa?

 

 

 

 

13.       Beyond being an African story, this is very much a human story, with many universal elements in it.  What are some of the ways in which this film presents universal problems, universal experiences?

 

 

 

 

14.       What are some of the key points that come out of the interview with the director, Atef Hamada?

 

 

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