•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Imagine Egyptian journalist Samia Fahmi’s dilemma. She had traveled to Rome to meet Nabil, the man she loved. But once there, she began to suspect that her lover was an Israeli spy, and that he was trying to recruit her to join the Mossad, the Jewish state’s intelligence agency.

Torn between love for Nabil and love for her country, she returned to Cairo, and did what any patriotic Egyptian woman would do: She informed on her lover.

In Cairo, the intelligence officers she presented with her suspicions convinced her to become a double-agent, and to infiltrate the Mossad.

And so begins “Harb al-Gawasis,” or “War of the Spies,” perhaps the most critically acclaimed series released this Ramadan. Samia and Nabil are fictional lovers caught in spy thriller set during the period between Egypt’s 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, a period known to Egyptians as the War of Depletion.

Each year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Arab TV networks release their biggest-budget serial dramas, hoping to cash in on families gathered together for evening meals and late-night celebration throughout the month. And each year, the series continue to replay past Ramadan.

“This drama is one of my favorites this Ramadan. It’s exciting. There’s a lot of suspense. It shows me how it was in the days before I was born,” said 25-year-old Rana Mohammed.

Her mother, Laila Salah, who is in her early 60s, remembers the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“It reminds me of the good old days, when there was a patriotic atmosphere everywhere, and when, unlike now, Egyptians had a national cause to bring them together,” she said.

She was quick to add that she would not want to return to those days of hostility. Her brother “escaped death only by a miracle” during the 1967 war.

He “spent several years recovering” after the 1973 war.

“I don’t miss these sufferings,” she said. “But I do miss the days when Egyptians were more united around a cause.”

The spy thriller is an annual favorite genre for Ramadan serial dramas.

Two of the most successful dramas in Egyptian television history, “Tears in Insolent Eyes,” starring superstar Adel Imam, and “Raafat al-Haggan” starring Mahmud Abdel-Aziz, are both about Egyptian double-agents tricking the Mossad.

While “War of the Spies” has attracted praise from critics, it has not created anything like the stir surrounding its predecessors.

“Unlike the two other spy drama hits, “War of the Spies” has no superstars. This made it lose a lot of appeal,” said film critic Hani Moustafa.

The cast includes many well-known Egyptian actors, including Mina Shalabi, Hisham Salim, Sharif Salama and Syrian actor Bassem Yakhour playing an Israeli Mossad officer. But none of those names have anything like the resonance of Adel Imam.

Others said the 30-episode drama did not need to be as long as it was. Others found the racist caricatures of Jewish villains in the series heavy-handed and offensive. Still others rolled their eyes at the plot’s patriotic morality tale.

And while the series does boast high production values, with most of the scenes shot in Italy and Germany, many viewers laughed when they saw a man talking in his mobile or a billboard advertising the Red Bull energy drink in the background of a scene set the late 1960s.

But despite such flaws, Egyptian critics are praising the series for its message and timing.

“The Arab world is full of anger as a result of the Israeli measures [in Gaza]. This is mainly what makes these types of dramas so popular among Arabs and Egyptians. Even if there is a peace treaty, Egyptians on the popular level will not abide by it,” said film critic Tariq al-Shennawy.

Rising film director Ali Mohammed said the drama’s message argued against normalization of relations with Israel, at a time when “some people in Egypt are arguing against it.”

“ ‘War of the Spies’ reminds us of our noble ethics in a significant period of our history,” he said.

It was “a time when people worked seriously for the national interest.”



Deutsche Presse-Agentur