The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Comedy flick Share’ El Haram (El Haram Street) tells the
story of Zizi (Dina); a cabaret dancer who is part of a double act with singer
Hommos (El Soghayar).

Naturally, all eyes are on Zizi, and none
more so than those of Adel (Labib); a promiscuous lawyer and regular at Zizi’s
shows. Zizi is a tough nut who doesn’t
lay down for anyone, in every sense, and rejects Adel’s advances. She isn’t
helped by the cabaret owner, though; who follows the mantra that the customer is
always right. Business is business after all. With nothing other than her charms
at her disposal, Zizi uses her feminine wiles to get her way out of sticky situations.

Firstly, the one thing that the film does succeed in
is the relentless mockery of everyone’s favourite singer-actor Tamer Hosny. The
film is littered with subtle ridicule, a few pretty obvious shots at and parodies
of Hosny’s music videos.

Apart from that, the rest of the film is
pretty forgettable, and is a chop-shop of cheap and sexist jokes. Any kind of structure or plot is blown
away by the dance and music scenes. We use that term very loosely, because they
said scenes actually look like a fairground on acid.

In fairness, though; the film never tries to
be anything more than it is. The dance performances are no different to what shaabi singer Saad El Soghayar might pass off as a music video.

What’s
surprising, and a shame, is the involvement of Lotfi Labib; an actor whose experience
make him a cut above this type of film. The same applies to veteran actor Ahmed
Bedeir, whose character is a carbon copy of the character he played in Ramadan
soap opera Keed El Nessa.

There’s little to say about the acting,
editing, shooting or any of the elements that go into the filmmaking process
because it seems like there was no thought put into anything.

The circus that
is Share’ El Haram seems to be
contagious. The atmosphere this reviewer experienced at the screening became no
more than that of a seedy cabaret; a load of boorish men ogling the dancers and
laughing manically at the crude jokes.