Heyda Fawda

Heyda Fawda is an Egyptian movie about a police officer (Hatem) stalking a school teacher (Nour) who is chasing an Assistant District Attorney (Sherif) who is sleeping with a drug addict (Shiela) who wears mini-skirts. The movie has English sub-titles but the graffiti and posters are not translated.

This was my first Egyptian and Arabic movie. So this post is made out of pure ignorance.

There are so many threads running through this movie. The main thread is the decline and fall of Hatem through his obsession with Nour. But this is against a motif of opening with police suppression of a demonstration and closing with the arrival of riot at another demonstration.

I think the best clue to this movie is the translation of the title as 'Le Chaos'. There is chaos in Egypt which the Emergency Law tries to address. The movie lays out four (4) distinct attempts to control this chaos:

1. Hatem uses force and corruption to regulate the chaos;
2. Sherif uses the merciful application of the law to restore confidence in the system;
3. The headmistress uses education to control the chaos;
4. Sheila uses drugs, sex, love, parties to block out the chaos.

Hatem uses force to convince people that order must be followed even at the expense of the law. In this, he is encouraged by his superiors. Hatem uses the chaos to enrich himself through corruption by cutting through the red tape. In Hatem, the system is defending itself against attack.

Sherif uses mercy to temper the law and so win people across to the system. He interprets the law in order to dispense justice. In Sherif, the system is paternalistic and benevolent.

The headmistress and school inspector strive to raise the education level of the students so that they are better equipped to handle the chaos. Nour tries to teach English to a class but she does not how even though she has the right qualifications. She tells the school inspector that she is a qualified idiot who was taught by other qualified idiots.

Shiela justs gets high, parties like mad, and makes passionate love to Sherif. She uses her wealth and position to hide from the chaos. She is above it while the other characters are caught up the raging currents.

Hatem descent into hell takes him through the impotence of power. He cannot make Nour love him. He can only rape her. He goes from a man who can inflict pain on others to someone cowering in an elevator while the world erupts around him. He is so self-absorbed that he does not see beauty in young love or a famous painting.

Sherif fails when he tries to use the legal system to prosecute Hatem for rape. Sherif sees his own impotence in the face of police perjury and obstruction.

Once all the legal avenues have failed, Nour's mother and the headmistress take their allegations to the street. There the people rise up and invade the police station. Eventually Hatem is sacrificed to save the system.