Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El Said began filming In The Last Days of the City back in 2009, not realizing that many of the images in his debut feature would resonate much differently after the political transformation of his country.
The film, which screens during a visit from Said on Sept. 22 at UW Cinematheque (4070 Vilas Hall), follows a Cairo filmmaker, Khalid (Khalid Abdalla), as he struggles with a personal film project. Khalid seems incapable of making firm decisions at work or in his personal life. He frustrates his editor, as he delivers unrelated footage, and his rental agent, because he cannot decide on a new apartment.
The film opens before the Arab Spring, but it’s clear a social and political storm is brewing.
Khalid’s filmmaking friends visit Cairo for a conference, where they discuss the challenges of living and working in cities scarred by violence. Bassem (Bassem Fayad) lives in Beirut, while Hassan (Hayder Helo) resides in Baghdad. They claim that the violence of their daily existence has given them new ways to see and appreciate life. Khalid has not been similarly inspired to engage with (or leave) Cairo.
The film suffers from overuse of stylistic tropes. The handheld, focus-on-the-fly faux documentary camerawork seems forced during observational scenes, and the elliptical editing and asynchronous sounds serve as reminders of stronger art films from the 1960s. The discussions between Khalid’s filmmaker friends are a bit too on-the-nose, stating some of the themes too directly rather than having them emerge from the drama organically.
The film comes to life when it sheds its self-conscious tactics and simply observes a city in flux, and a man who can’t seem to come to terms with change. Structurally, the film is anti-dramatic, as its protagonist refuses to engage with the changes and conflicts around him. The first violence Khalid encounters is an incident of domestic violence across the street from his apartment. He does nothing. Shortly afterward, he observes a politically motivated assault and kidnapping. Again he does nothing. Khalid’s refusal to deal with conflict might frustrate some viewers, but the film is about his inability to engage.
Said compensates for his passive protagonist by providing a multi-layered mosaic of the city. The soundtrack is particularly important here, as radio news reports paint a picture of national unity (including support for the national soccer team) that contrast with the emerging protests in the streets. All of these details, even the mundane ones, have a strange resonance now that we know what happened in subsequent days to then-President Hosni Mubarak, the Islamic Brotherhood, and the country as a whole. When Said allows us to look and listen, instead of overtly stating what we should think, In the Last Days of the City is a moving, almost haunting, experience.