Hatem (Khaled Saleh) rules over Cairo's Choubra district with an iron fist, a whipping rod and a complete disregard for the law. He may be a police officer, but that never stops him from abusing the prisoners in his cells. Nor does it inhibit his lust. Whenever he can, Hatem spies on his lovely young neighbour, Nour, as she bathes.

But Nour has fallen under the spell of Chérif, an upstanding prosecutor whose headmistress mother dotes on him, even though he is wasting his time with an alarmingly sexy girlfriend. As the circle of desire spirals tighter, Hatem grows bolder and more frantic. Desperate to have Nour for himself, he bends and then breaks the law to get what he wants.

Saleh plays the bald-headed, grasping Hatem with the energy of a man possessed by a thousand different impulses, none of them good. When he sneaks into Nour's room, he drives himself into an erotic frenzy simply by smelling her robe and rummaging through her photos. At the same time, this lovestruck loser - if love is what it is - can switch to heartless brutality in an instant. Torturing prisoners has become so routine that he can chat on his mobile phone as he does it.




Country: Egypt/France
Year: 2007
Language: Arabic
Runtime: 123 minutes
Format: Colour/35mm

Cast & Crew

Production Company: MISR International Films/3B Productions
Producer: Gabriel Khoury
Screenplay: Nasser Abdel Rahman
Cinematographer: Ramsis Marzouk
Editor: Ghada Ezzdine
Production Designer: Hamed Hemdan
Sound: Mostafa Aly
Music: Yasser Abdel Rahman
Principal Cast: Khaled Saleh, Mena Shalaby, Hala Sedky, Youssef El Chérif, Hala Fakher


FESTIVALS

2008 | IFFR 2008 - 37th International Film Festival Rotterdam | ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands | www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com |
> Selection - Kings & Aces

2007 | Continent Afrique | PAU, France |
> Sélection