The Yacoubian Building

Hey everyone,

So, last week I had to watch The Yacoubian Building for my Egyptian film class and I just have to say that it's the one Egyptian movie I never thought I'd see. In the textbook for our class the author, Viola Shafik, is always commenting on Egypt's strict censorship laws. She said that among the major taboo topics are sex, religion, and politics. The sex thing is pretty much self explanitory; no overexposure of the human body (male or female), no scenes depicting prostitution, no explicit rape scenes. When it comes to religion, film makers usually stick to depicting Islam rather than Christianity or Judaism (both of which also exist in Egypt) so as not to upset the Islamic majority...and blatent political statements are usually on the "no-no list" so as not to incite rebellion and war.

The Yacoubian Building, however, had all that and more. This film touched upon political corruption, rape, homosexuality, drug use, fundamentalism, and even prostitution...oh and a touch of Christianity was thrown in for good measure. It was an extremely good film, a long film, but a good one, but I just don't understand how the film actually passed the censorship board.