Hey friends,
This week is a landmark in the film-making world for the UAE. Three Emirati actors are acting in a film called Hilm (Dream), which basically reflects the Emiratis' own search for identity amidst the huge mix of foreigners in their own country. As one of the actors says in regards to the fast developing city of Dubai, "This building, itÂ’s a building in a UAE-style. But if you walk inside maybe you will be the only UAE man walking there, and thatÂ’s very strange. After a while you will raise the question, who am I? Is it my country or am I a tourist?"
I think it will be an interesting movie. I am glad that UAE film making industry has done something like this, because it gives them an opportunity to speak out and project their identity on a very popular medium. I saw the trailer for this movie last week, and the most surprising thing for me was the female lead interacting quite well with the two male leads. The three of them were acting like best friends, with a lot of touching and back-slapping.
I was confused whether she was an Emirati woman or not. The director says, "It will be a surprise for audiences to see Emirati women who have cast off their traditional conservative dress for the more revealing attire of most of the country's residents. "I haven't made anything up, it already exists," Shaibani said, denying he was promoting a more liberal aesthetic for women. "Most women here are different from this, but the story includes women who are free. It's in the story itself."
So, according to him, those women who don't "cast off their traditional conservative dress" are not free?
Mansur
3 comments:
HAHAHA...WHATS THE RATING? 18+ FOR EXCESSIVE TOUCHING? GOODNESS....I WONDER HOW MUCH MONEY THIS WILL MAKE.....HAHAHA
Intresting .. but I remmber some time back there was a UAE movie?!! it was a traditional style one though ..
Oman is also venturing into movie making .. "al boom" is the coming movie .. and I just read that they are thinking of making another one about a story an Omani writer wrote .. about disability .. its intresting that gulf countries are now intrested to enter movie making :)
Each person has their own concept of what being "free" is.
Living in a western country such as mine, it is often seen that women who wear traditional clothing such as the abaya are "oppressed". They may in turn see western women as being the ones oppressed because they have not the protection of the veil.
This is a debate which has currently been much in the news in my own country (Australia). There have been moves to try and ban girls from wearing headscarves in schools. This is greatly to do with the fear of terrorism. *sigh*
Hmm I got rather off topic there.
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