Terrorism and Kebab

Image:Mogamma Cairo.jpg

The action primarily takes place at the Mogamma in Cairo, a well-known mammoth-sized government building that is a center of bureaucratic work.{{cite web|last=Eltahawy |first=Mona |date=13 September 2005 |url=http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=1676 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427034711/http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=1676 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 27, 2006 |title=The Real Surprise in Egypt |website=Asharq Al-Awsat |access-date=December 13, 2010}}{{cite news|date=2 September 1992 |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0902/02141.html |last=Gauch |first=Sarah |title=Egypt's Media Target Islam |work=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=May 28, 2023}}{{cite news|last=Murphy |first=Kim |date=24 May 1993 |title=Woe Awaits in Tower of Babble |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60300093.html?dids=60300093:60300093&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+24,+1993&author=KIM+MURPHY&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=COLUMN+ONE+Woe+Awaits+in+Tower+of+Babble+Cairo+residents+hate+to+enter+the+concrete+behemoth+that+houses+the+central+bureaucracy.+Frustrated+patrons+have+leaped+from+windows.+Visits+inside+evoke+images+of+Kafka+at+the+DMV.&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104165717/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60300093.html?dids=60300093:60300093&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+24,+1993&author=KIM+MURPHY&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=COLUMN+ONE+Woe+Awaits+in+Tower+of+Babble+Cairo+residents+hate+to+enter+the+concrete+behemoth+that+houses+the+central+bureaucracy.+Frustrated+patrons+have+leaped+from+windows.+Visits+inside+evoke+images+of+Kafka+at+the+DMV.&pqatl=google |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=December 14, 2010}} Adel Imam's character, Ahmed, queues up at the Mogamma one day to try to get a school transfer for his children, but gets bogged down. Endless lines of citizens march through the building and up and down its iconic spiral staircases seeking help. One government worker frustrates Ahmed particularly, because he is constantly praying in a show of alleged piousness to avoid getting any work done. This leads to a scuffle between the two, and eventually Ahmed ends up with a rifle from a guard and shots are fired in the resulting confusion. A mass spontaneous evacuation of the building ensues, Ahmed inadvertently takes the building hostage, and subsequently is assumed to be a terrorist. He is joined in his "takeover" by a few other "misfits," including Hind, a prostitute played by Yousra.

Ahmed and his new compatriots negotiate with the Minister of Interior, who fears the building will be blown up, and he demands kebab for all the hostages, as meat is too expensive for most Egyptians. Writer Wahid Hamed has described the symbolic meaning of the demand: "People don't know what they want ... They are crushed, their dreams are impossible, they can't believe their demands can be fulfilled, so they ask for kebab."{{cite news|last=Abou El-Magd, Nadia |date=4 January 2001 |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/515/profile.htm |title=Wahid Hamed: Time and again |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109061055/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/515/profile.htm |archive-date=2010-11-09 |work=Al-Ahram |access-date=December 13, 2010}}

As the film draws to a close, Ahmed orders the "hostages" to leave the building, and he will wait behind to meet up with the military police now ready to swarm the building, assuming he will be killed. The crowd, however, insists that he leave with them. Ahmed walks out unnoticed among his former "hostages", and the commandos find the building empty.{{cite news|date=9 October 2005 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D2QxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aqMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1312,4653288&dq=terrorism-and-kebab&hl=en |title=Red tape mecca on its way out |via=Reading Eagle |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 13, 2010}}{{cite web|last=Atia |first=Tarek |date=29 July 1999 |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/440/profile.htm |title=Sherif Arafa: Movies on the way home |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113054154/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/440/profile.htm |archive-date=2010-11-13 |website=Al-Ahram |access-date=December 16, 2010}}

The film has been described as a "classic Egyptian comedy about government corruption, bumbling and the good hearted nature of the sha'ab (people) of Egypt."{{cite web|url=http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/outreach/news/finalfilmscreening |title=Final Screening of the Middle East Film Series, Terrorism and Kebab (Irhab wa Kebab), Egypt |website=Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies |access-date=December 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708081554/http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/outreach/news/finalfilmscreening |archive-date=July 8, 2010}} The film was a great success,{{cite news|last=Bronner |first=Ethan |date=31 January 1993 |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D365A2B3F107&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Actors, writers fighting tide of fundamentalism in Egypt |newspaper=The Dallas Morning News |access-date=December 16, 2010 |quote=perhaps the past year's most popular movie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024041958/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D365A2B3F107&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |archive-date=October 24, 2012}} and has even been cited as the most popular Egyptian film of all time.{{cite news|last=Sardar |first=Ziauddin |date=2 April 2007 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2007/04/film-arab-egyptian-building |title=What Egyptian cinema can teach us |work=New Statesman |access-date=December 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007080650/https://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2007/04/film-arab-egyptian-building |archive-date=October 7, 2008}} A 2007 poll of Egyptian critics taken by Al-Ahram newspaper listed the film as No. 15 on the 15 best Egyptian films of all time.{{cite news|date=12 July 2007 |url=http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/uncategorized/the-best-of-egyptian-cinema-dp1.html |title=The best of Egyptian cinema |work=Daily News Egypt |access-date=December 16, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|fix-attempted=yes}}

• Adel Emam as Ahmed
• Yousra as Hind
• Kamal el-Shennawi as Minister of Interior
• Ahmed Rateb as Shalabi

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|id=0107227|title=Al-irhab wal kabab}}
• [https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=El+Erhab+Wal+Kabab+&x=23&y=16 Al-irhab wal kabab DVD] at Amazon

{{portalbar|Egypt|Film|1990s}}

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Category:Films set in Egypt

Category:1992 films

Category:1990s Arabic-language films

Category:Egyptian black comedy films

Category:1992 black comedy films

Category:Films about terrorism in Africa

Category:1990s Egyptian films