The Escape

                  The second film that I watched for my group (Arabic Literature) is titled The Escape, and it features Ahmed Zaki as its main actor.  This film was interesting, but I did not enjoy it quite as much as I enjoyed A Man in Our House.  But the basic storyline of this film was one of a murderer on the run, similar to A Man in Our House.

                  The main character, Montasser, gets put in prison on charges of murder (of a very evil woman, if I may say so, who is enticing his wife), but he is escapes.  He then accidentally kills another man, and is chased even more.  But every time he is caught, he escapes, until the very end of the movie.  The reason he is so determined to escape is to find his cousin, to whom he is engaged and who has left him for an adulterous lifestyle. 

                  The majority of the film is spent tracking Montasser and his continual escapes.  The journalists follow his story, and people in Egypt cannot decide whether he is a persecuted hero or what the officials’ say, a murderer.   Throughout his escapes, his family helps him, and even an official from his home town, who is supposed to catch him. 

The movie ends tragically, as with pretty much all of the Arabic films I have watched and books I have read!  An interesting topic to research/contemplate would be the fact that most American movies end with “happily ever after,” while most Arabic films end with “happily never after.”  Why is this so?   We as Americans love to see our dreams come true, while Arabs seem to have a much more sobering way to view life.  Americans seem to be idealists, while Arabs seem to be realists.  Now I realize that I am simplifying this idea, but it is worth contemplating!