Egypt To Censor The Yacoubian Building?

The Yacoubian Building, a movie based on Alaa Al-Aswani’s bestselling novel, is to be reviewed by the Egyptian parliament after 112 MPs demanded censorship of the homosexual scenes in the movie.
They have criticised the movie saying it defames Egypt by portraying homosexuality, terrorism and corruption.

MP Mustafa Bakri, who led a campaign against the film, said it was “spreading obscenity and debauchery”. He added: “As a citizen I felt hurt when I watched it.

This is complete nonsense and it makes me sick: all the novel and movie do is reflect, through the interlinked lives of the residents of a Cairo building, the true facts of the Egyptian, and Arab society with it’s good and bad; homosexuality exists, so does extremism, and no need to even mention the wide spread corruption.
So how is the movie defaming Egypt just by telling the truth?
Or do we only want to hear the good things about ourselves and hide the bad?

I think it’s about time our Arab societies stop turning their backs to the important issues and problems that lurk in them, acting as if they don’t exist, and try to face them head on, finding real and lasting solutions.

For those interested, here is my review of the book “The Yacoubian Building” in Arabic.

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Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

3 thoughts on “Egypt To Censor The Yacoubian Building?”

  2. I hate to say it, but it was to be expected.

    The Egyptian Parliament has entirely too much time on its hands. In the past, they’ve debated Nancy Ajram’s and Rubi’s video clips. What parliament debates and tries to dictate these types of issues?

    Egyptian society has everything illustrated in the novel, if not more. But our MPs are racing to censor sex scenes to look more “righteous” in people’s eyes, instead of asking themselves, and initiating an open debate, about all these issues. It’s frustrating.

  3. I did not like the movie; I saw it when it was first shown at the Tribecca Film Festival in New York in late April 2006; I was horrified by the contempt that the movie showed towards the Egyptian society. As if the society only consists of corrupt, deceitful citizens, either too weak to resist, or wicked from the ground of their heart. I thought of my Egpytian friends and the people I have met there on my travels and felt, they deserved better than being slandered by movie that is ultimately a self-reflection of a bourgeois, decadent upper class that has lost all its values and spirits…

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