Following the success of “Saheb El Maqam” as the first movie to be released outside cinema theatres on Shahid and Shahid VIP, a second movie called “El Hareth” dropped last weekend, but did it do as good?
Honestly, it was almost just as hyped up as Saheb El Maqam. The story is fresh and catching, the cast is special and different and the cinematography was intriguing. HOWEVER, we’re afraid at some point, things took a bad turn. Here’s exactly how!
Acting
As previously mentioned, a main cast with only Ahmed El Fishawy and Yasmine Raes and a few special guests is definitely interesting. Yet somehow, we kind of wished they’d given more to their acting.
El Fishawy’s acting skills are nothing but unique, it goes without saying. But in El Hareth, we’re afraid his true talent wasn’t properly employed. For example, when his only son dies or when his wife claims the house is haunted we got no intensity whatsoever from his facial reactions.
As for Yasmine Raes, we honestly expected more from the girl who played “Hayam” in the movie “Fatat El Masna’a”. Especially when it came to that ending scene where she supposedly meets the devil in the flesh!
As for Ali El Tayeb, we must say we were surprised with “Kamal”, and not just because of the plot twist. He delivered such a mature performance!
Plot
The plot examines the widely used theme of the “Story of Creation” but from a somewhat different angle. The flashback opening scene in Siwa totally got us hooked and wanting more.
As the plot thickens, we found ourselves predicting every next move and twist. It kind of felt like the movie is almost a compilation of every story of creation themed films ever made.
The movie was announced to be a thriller mystery movie, but somehow the final result came out as bad horror. It was fun to watch that one time but we don’t think its charm will last.
Special Guests
Moving to the good part, we really enjoyed the special appearances from minute one. Amr Abdel Geleel and Arfa Abdel Rassoul were definitely two very pleasant surprises.
As for Asmaa Abu El Yazid, we only saw her for like two minutes but boy did she master that human-sacrifice role. And do we even have to say what a great small role Bassem Samra played? It made our day actually!
Ending
For the climax, they took us back to Siwa Oasis where everything started. So far so good. Sadly though, things just went downhill from there. People appearing and vanishing in a less than perfect way, the devil (whom they kill) turns out to be the couple’s best friend. Only to have the classic “he is still alive and he’s coming back” situation in the final scene.
