Lifting the lid on prejudice

By Ramadan Abdel Kader

Directed and based on a screenplay by Egyptian-Austrian filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky, “Yomeddine” also generated good reviews when it was shown at local theatres in 2018. Its makers chose the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya, the hometown of the lead actor, as the first venue for its commercial screening in Egypt.

The film is marked, among other things, by its theme and cast. It sheds light on leprosy, raises public awareness about its sufferers and dispels fallacies about the disease.

In presenting the theme, the director of “Yomeddine” opted for a humanitarian approach boosted by feelings of joie de vivre and comedy that appealed to many members of the audience.

In a TV interview, Shawky, who studied the cinema in New York, disclosed that the film had been inspired by a documentary he had made years earlier about a centre for treating and accommodating lepers, locally known as a colony of leprosy located in the suburb of Abu Zabal north of Cairo.

“I was touched by tales of people whose families left them there,” he said. Shawky also called his film an “enjoyable risk”, using non-professional and obscure actors.

He said that at some point he had to suspend work on his unconventional project due to budget problems. “Yomeddine” is Shawky’s debut fiction film.

The main character is played by ex-leper Rady Gamal who delivered a convincing, spontaneous performance. He portrays Beshay, a man who has spent most of his life at the leper colony and sets out on an eye-opening journey searching for his family roots in Upper Egypt. In real life, Gamal spent 32 years at the leper colony.

Accompanied by his donkey and an orphaned boy nicknamed Obama, played by Ahmed Abdel Hafiz, Beshay, exposes bias against the vulnerable during his trip to his family’s hometown in Qena, south of Cairo.

Beshay is shunned by people, who erroneously believe that leprosy is contagious. The illness has heavily disfigured his face and hands.

The expression “Yomeddine” is invoked in the course of the road film in a reference to the Day of Judgment when all people will be equal irrespective of their colours, genders, classes and races.

The underlying message of the film is a call for humanity and renunciation of superficial evaluation of others.

The protagonist faces prejudice not just because he is poor, but because taunters are ignorant of his disease.

The film is, thus, admirable for diagnosing an illness, which is worse than leprosy, namely: prejudice.

The film arguably imparts a potent message on mankind’s crisis and the ordeal of the marginalised around the world. It’s a universal film that prods people to look beyond deformities and accept differences.

The message is probably well-timed in this era of the coronavirus pandemic when social and mainstream media have reported a slew of tales about people harshly shunned and even bullied just because they tested positive for the virus. In some cases, grief-stricken families of the Covid-19 dead victims ran into trouble while burying their loved ones due to opposition from locals who claimed potential infection.

“Yomeddine” had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded the Francois Chalais Prize for its portrayal of coexistence.

It had its Egyptian premier in September 2018 at the El-Gouna Film Festival in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. It won the festival’s Best Arab Feature Film Prize and shared the event’s Cinema for Humanity Prize with another film.

At the time, the festival’s founder, business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, lauded “Yomeddine” for its humanitarian message.

“I cried twice while watching this film at Cannes and El-Gouna,” Sawiris said in a television interview.

“The film reminds me of people’s suffering and what is happening in the world,” he added.

Egypt also nominated “Yomeddine ” for the Oscar’s best foreign film category.

On preparing for “Yomeddine”, Shawky picked Gamal and auditioned him for four months before the actual shooting began.

The director defended his selection of Gamal although he had no acting background.

“It was an inevitable choice because Gamal experienced in real life leprosy and as such he is the most aware of the problems associated with this disease and its psychological impact,” Shawky said.

“He is such a kind-hearted, smart and spontaneous person whose performance drives home the message.”

Whether he meant it or not, Shawky proved in “Yomeddine” that you can make a good film with a lasting impact without depending on big names and lavish production. His film deserves wider public exposure in a world where humanity is in a dilemma.