Death of the revolution, death of the event: cinema and politics in the aftermath of the Egyptian spring

Abstract

Kant assumes an aesthetic dimension to the awe experienced by the self in presence of an overwhelming event. Awe is often dominated by the subject’s speechlessness. In the case of the Egyptian 2011 uprising and its interface with films, this article argues that the trauma caused by the revolutionary episode brought awe and silence as aesthetic principles. The failure of the revolution, due to violent repression, and its symbolic death equate the death of the event, i.e., the metaphoric obliteration of narrative. A connection between the impossibility of narrating the revolution and the strong emergence of arthouse films deprived of a traditional narrative and haunted by the theme of death is argued here. These films perform the silence of the storytelling and the traumatic nature of the experience, which undermine enunciation and mega-narratives. Hala Lotfi’s Coming Forth by Day (in Arabic: Al Khorug lel Nahar, 2013) and Ahmed Fawzi Saleh’s Poisonous Roses (in Arabic: Ward Masmoum, 2018) are particularly worthy of attention, precisely because both films do not refer directly to the political upheaval of 2011. Both films stand out as examples of (almost) a zero degree of narration and of the overwhelming presence of silence. They also include stated or hinted references to Ancient Egyptian myths and figures, specifically to stories about death and resurrection. In both films, the silence generated by the absence of the father as a character and an allegory, is the main agent of the death of narrative.

Keywords:

• Arab Spring
• Egyptian Cinema
• Cinema and Revolution
• Silence
• Death of narrative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Walter Benjamin “The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov” in Dorothy Hale (ed.) The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900-2000. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. 2006. pp.361–378

2 Ibid. p.362

3 For more about the Sublime in Kant’s Aesthetics: https://www.iep.utm.edu/kantaest/#SH2c

4 Albrecht, Holger. «Authoritarian Transformation or Transition from Authoritarianism. Insights on Regime Change in Egypt” in Korani, Bahgat & El-Mahdi, Rabab (eds). Arab Spring in Egypt. Revolution and Beyond. Cairo: American University Press in Cairo. 2012. Chapter 12. In their introduction to the book, the editors emphasize among other things that the uprising “brought down an aging and ailing regime”. Therefor, the trope of aging, whose ultimate conclusion is death, appears to be relevant to the study of both Egyptian film studies and Egyptian politics.

swAlso, Masoud, Tarek. “The Upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia: The Road to (and from) Liberation Square”. Journal of Democracy, vol.22 no3, 2011, p.20–34 insists on the Mubarak regime’s obsession with the specter of the death of the leader. Masoud opines: “Yet, despite the regime’s attempts to present the leader as immortal, the specter of his eventual demise loomed over the political landscape.” (p.20)

5 Amin, Samir. “The Return of Fascism in Contemporary Capitalism” in Fascism Monthly Review. September 2014. pp.1–12. Archives Samir-Amin. Patrimoine Numérique Africain.

http://patrimoinenumeriqueafricain.com:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/379

6 Amnesty International, Amnesty International Annual Report 2012 - Egypt, 24 May 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4fbe3940c.html. The report estimates the number of deaths during the 18 days of the uprising at 840 at least, and the number of the injured at 6000.

7 Gordon, Joel. Revolutionary Melodrama. Popular Film and Civic Identity in Nasser’s Egypt. Chicago. Middle East Documentation Centre. The University of Chicago. 2002

8 Nagib, Lucia The Politics of Slowness and the Traps of Modernity” in De Luca, Tiago & Barradas Jorge, Nuno (eds). Slow Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2016. p.25–46

9 Bazin, André. What is Cinema? Vol1. Translated by Hugh Gray Berkeley: University of California Press. 1967, 2005.

10 Margulies, Ivone. Nothing Happens. Chantal Akerman’s Hyperrealist Everyday. Durham: Duke University Press. 1996

11 El Khachab, Walid. “Coming Forth by Day”. Ibda3 Journal. Cairo. GEBO. 2014.

12 Budge, Wallis. E. A. The Book of the Dead. Outlook

13 Hylén, Torsten, Husayn, the Mediator: A Structural Analysis of the Karbala Drama according to Abu Jáfar Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310/923)

Dalarna University, School of Humanities and Media Studies, Religious Studies. Uppsala universitet.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9963-8124

14 Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane. The Nature of Religion.

15 Critics found Coming Forth to be a political allegory.

16 Autobiography in Coming Forth by the Day and the actor Ahmed Loutfi’s story

17 J. Gwyn Griffiths. The Origins of Osiris and his Cult. Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1980; Daniel S. Richter. “Plutarch on Isis and Osiris: Text, Cult, and Cultural Appropriation” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-2014). Vol. 131 (2001), pp. 191–216

18 Oweis, Sayed. Letters to Imam Shafei (Rasael Ila Imam Shafei). Cairo, Kuwait: Al Shaye Publishing House . 1987

19 Gronstad, Asbjorn. Film and the Ethical Imagination. London: Palgrave & Macmilan. 2016. Particularly “Slow Cinema and the Ethics of Duration” pp.11–135

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Walid El Khachab

Walid El Khachab is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Arabic Studies, York University, Canada, and the Co-Director of ACANS, the Arab Canadian Studies Research Group. He edited the volume: Arabs: Out of the Impasse? In French, Paris, Éditions Corlet, in 2004. Since then, he has published in English, French and Arabic, in New York, Durham NC, Montreal, Toronto, Cairo, Istanbul and Paris more than 50 chapters in books and academic articles on Arabic cultures and Islam, particularly on national identities and modernity, the politics of mysticism, and cinema & popular culture. His work appeared in Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Sociétés & Représentations, CinéMas and CinémAction, among others. His recent publications include: « Suez imaginaire : le canal, le capital et les métaphores coloniales », Sociétés & Représentations, Paris : Presses universitaires de la Sorbonne. vol. 48, no. 2, 2019, pp. 111–126. « The Cinema of the Pharaohs: Film, Archeology, and Sub-Imperialism », in Mercedes Volait et Emmanuelle Perrin (dir.), Dialogues artistiques avec les passés de l’Égypte, Paris, InVisu (CNRS-INHA) (« Actes de colloques »), 2017, [En ligne], mis en ligne le 31 janvier 2017, consulté le 14 février 2017. URL : http://inha.revues.org/7196