Karimi
April 9th, 2004, 12:47 PM
Below is my review of the new Bahraini film Za'er:
I took my seat in the audience which was relatively full and smiled as I watched the movie start.
The first thing I noticed about the movie were special effects, the problem is that the movie uses too many special effects that were more of eye-candy rather than of actual substance. For example the blurriness of the dream, which was taken too far so that it was annoying to see; or the time where they show us the movie title. These effects instead of making the movie seem advanced and "hip" make the movie seem cheesy. By cheesy I mean that the effects make the movie seem as if the director was trying to show off, it only manages to make the film look odd and the effects were out of place; alienating the viewer to some extent, and in some ways making difficult to see.
One thing that could have been improved in the movie is the fact that the majority of the time was spent watching the actors are running around ; be it up stairs or from grave to grave without actual purpose other than to get from point A to B. So that more time than necessary was consumed as the audience watched Fatima A. Raheem walk up the stairs then down again.
There were a lot of "cheap" (ones that startle the viewer) scares that have been done countless times before, cliché scares, but they were done relatively well. They could have been improved had better music been used to improve the atmosphere. The burial mound scenes where people are attacked could have been improved so they could be more intense and scary. But overall they were done well; some improvements could have been made so that they would have been pretty good.
When it comes to dialogue and acting this movie was severely lacking. First of all the actors repeat the same lines over and over not furthering the plot or explaining anything. For example, nearly three fourths of the film was wasted as the character Ali was telling Fatima she should see a doctor and that she's hallucinating, with Fatima replying that she's not being taken seriously and that she's fine. The acting was decent for the most part, over dramatized to some extent. Though once Ahmed Mubarak came into the plot the acting went downhill, especially near the end. The acting in this movie was hanging off a cliff (it was enough for us to appreciate the movie but not enough to truly love the character) then Ahmed came in and threw it off the cliff. Pretty soon the acting fell to its death. Another point that should be pointed out was that the dialogue was mixed between the Bahraini common tongue and proper Arabic; this made the characters seem unreal since it doesn’t make them appear as if they are talking properly.
The filming was not done as well as it could have been, the camera shook a lot and it wasn't very clear. But it gets better as the movie progresses and you don’t notice it as you continue to watch the movie. There was a lack of color in the movie, the backgrounds were a bit dull but that’s because of the story. One large error in the movie was the very choppy transition between night and afternoon. One second you see that the sun is setting and the sky is orange/purple the next second its pitch black.
The story is pretty good, I guessed the end but it was pretty good and not very expectable for most movie goers. The thing is, the story elements seem like the writer took parts of other movies and put them together. Similar to the making of a patchwork blanket; so that it seemed original yet I couldn't help but feel as if I've seen and heard it all before.
As a Bahraini I think this movie should still get some support, despite its flaws. Being one of the first movies in the Gulf and in Bahrain this isn’t too bad , there is a lot of room for improvement but those improvements will come with time . By not seeing this movie we will be showing the makers that movies in gulf countries are failures and that they are not worth the effort. Therefore we would be dooming cinematography in Bahrain and killing any future it has. Za'er is more than a movie, it's a test, a test of how good Gulf movies are. If it fails this test we are pretty much ensuring that no more Gulf movies will be made and we are forced to suffer anti-Muslim movies made by the Jews or other movies we dislike. Movies are the voice of a new generation, we should encourage the movie business to develop in Gulf nations, not hinder it. If this movie succeeds more efforts will be made and the movie business will be given a chance to develop, like a seed or a bud we must allow cinematography in the Gulf to grow and blossom, reaching its full potential. Arabs have a long way to go in this field, and by not showing our support we will never catch up. But that’s my opinion.
Overall this movie wasn't too bad, mediocre yes, has flaws yes, but still an interesting watch. We should be a bit more lenient with the grading of this movie since this is one of the first times something like this has been done in the Gulf and it is still a new concept. It is one of the first movies in the Gulf and we must view it as such, comparing it to the standard of movies that are made in the US is too harsh. As a movie it was sub-par, but as a first step it was pretty good. Hopefully the makers of the movie can find their mistakes and learn from them to make a better movie.
Score: 6/10
One line review: A good start for Arab movies, a decent and interesting movie that is flawed but can still be liked.
-Ali Karimi
I took my seat in the audience which was relatively full and smiled as I watched the movie start.
The first thing I noticed about the movie were special effects, the problem is that the movie uses too many special effects that were more of eye-candy rather than of actual substance. For example the blurriness of the dream, which was taken too far so that it was annoying to see; or the time where they show us the movie title. These effects instead of making the movie seem advanced and "hip" make the movie seem cheesy. By cheesy I mean that the effects make the movie seem as if the director was trying to show off, it only manages to make the film look odd and the effects were out of place; alienating the viewer to some extent, and in some ways making difficult to see.
One thing that could have been improved in the movie is the fact that the majority of the time was spent watching the actors are running around ; be it up stairs or from grave to grave without actual purpose other than to get from point A to B. So that more time than necessary was consumed as the audience watched Fatima A. Raheem walk up the stairs then down again.
There were a lot of "cheap" (ones that startle the viewer) scares that have been done countless times before, cliché scares, but they were done relatively well. They could have been improved had better music been used to improve the atmosphere. The burial mound scenes where people are attacked could have been improved so they could be more intense and scary. But overall they were done well; some improvements could have been made so that they would have been pretty good.
When it comes to dialogue and acting this movie was severely lacking. First of all the actors repeat the same lines over and over not furthering the plot or explaining anything. For example, nearly three fourths of the film was wasted as the character Ali was telling Fatima she should see a doctor and that she's hallucinating, with Fatima replying that she's not being taken seriously and that she's fine. The acting was decent for the most part, over dramatized to some extent. Though once Ahmed Mubarak came into the plot the acting went downhill, especially near the end. The acting in this movie was hanging off a cliff (it was enough for us to appreciate the movie but not enough to truly love the character) then Ahmed came in and threw it off the cliff. Pretty soon the acting fell to its death. Another point that should be pointed out was that the dialogue was mixed between the Bahraini common tongue and proper Arabic; this made the characters seem unreal since it doesn’t make them appear as if they are talking properly.
The filming was not done as well as it could have been, the camera shook a lot and it wasn't very clear. But it gets better as the movie progresses and you don’t notice it as you continue to watch the movie. There was a lack of color in the movie, the backgrounds were a bit dull but that’s because of the story. One large error in the movie was the very choppy transition between night and afternoon. One second you see that the sun is setting and the sky is orange/purple the next second its pitch black.
The story is pretty good, I guessed the end but it was pretty good and not very expectable for most movie goers. The thing is, the story elements seem like the writer took parts of other movies and put them together. Similar to the making of a patchwork blanket; so that it seemed original yet I couldn't help but feel as if I've seen and heard it all before.
As a Bahraini I think this movie should still get some support, despite its flaws. Being one of the first movies in the Gulf and in Bahrain this isn’t too bad , there is a lot of room for improvement but those improvements will come with time . By not seeing this movie we will be showing the makers that movies in gulf countries are failures and that they are not worth the effort. Therefore we would be dooming cinematography in Bahrain and killing any future it has. Za'er is more than a movie, it's a test, a test of how good Gulf movies are. If it fails this test we are pretty much ensuring that no more Gulf movies will be made and we are forced to suffer anti-Muslim movies made by the Jews or other movies we dislike. Movies are the voice of a new generation, we should encourage the movie business to develop in Gulf nations, not hinder it. If this movie succeeds more efforts will be made and the movie business will be given a chance to develop, like a seed or a bud we must allow cinematography in the Gulf to grow and blossom, reaching its full potential. Arabs have a long way to go in this field, and by not showing our support we will never catch up. But that’s my opinion.
Overall this movie wasn't too bad, mediocre yes, has flaws yes, but still an interesting watch. We should be a bit more lenient with the grading of this movie since this is one of the first times something like this has been done in the Gulf and it is still a new concept. It is one of the first movies in the Gulf and we must view it as such, comparing it to the standard of movies that are made in the US is too harsh. As a movie it was sub-par, but as a first step it was pretty good. Hopefully the makers of the movie can find their mistakes and learn from them to make a better movie.
Score: 6/10
One line review: A good start for Arab movies, a decent and interesting movie that is flawed but can still be liked.
-Ali Karimi