DONIA

last night I watched "Donia" the new egyptian film that has that has captured the pens of critiques all over the arab world,

I don’t like Arabic films, I never watched an Arabic film at the cinema before, ok maybe only once which was “The Destiny:AL Massier for Youssef Chahine)
But this film is really good
It’s a joint Egyptian/ French production that talks about Donia (Hanan Tork) who has is learning literature but at the same time she longs for being a belly dancer.

The Film was criticized for being a strike against Arab & Egyptian morality
I could not see this part at all; the film did not include any nudity or sexual scenes (at least not like the ones we see in 3adel Imam films), the film simply discussed the liberation of woman from the point of making a choice & having a say about their sexuality or at least how they deal with their bodies. It so interesting how we know that premarital sex is happening in almost 50% of each arab country (and I include gulf countries in that based on knowledge), woman are walking half naked all over the streets of Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan & Dubai, still we cant accept to discuss the idea of woman sexuality in the Arab world on the big screen.


The film has reminded me of a Palestinian film by Michele Khlaife (3ors Al Jalil: Al Jalil Wedding) which also didn’t go smoothly with Arab critiques.

I guess it is warth watching and in the cinema not on DVD because the film has the most amazing soundtrack.

Hope you enjoy