The Emigrant

Hey everyone,

I just finished watching Youssef Chahine's film, The Emigrant (1994) for Comm. 399. Overall it was a pretty good film. It rehashes the biblical story of Joseph, or in this film - Ram, who was the favorite son amongst all his father's children. Ram's brothers attempt to kill him because they're insanely jealous of all the affection and attention their father gives to him. Ram manages to escape however and he makes a decent life for himself in Egypt.
The film certainly followed Todorov's narrative theory about equilibrium. In the beginning, clearly everyone wasn't happy, but Ram's entire family/tribe was together - this was their equilibrium. When Ram's brothers attempt to kill him - the equilibrium is disrupted - Ram's father is devestated at the loss of his favorite son, and Ram struggles to acheive his goals in Egypt. Everything is set to rights - the equilibrium restored - when Ram finally meets his brothers again and is able to return home.
While the film hints at the director's Christian beliefs - it never mentions Christianity specifically -only the belief in one true God. I'm pretty sure this has much to do with the censorship practices in Egypt at the time of the films release. One of the textbooks for this class, a book by Victoria Shafik, mentions how it is common practice to make Islam the main religion mentioned in movies so as not to upset people; Islam is afterall the major religion of the Middle East. Interestingly enough, the film ended up being banned in Egypt anyway. Go figure.