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Starring: Ahmed El-Sakka, Mona Zaki, Ahmed Eid, Talaat Zein
Directed by: Amr Arafa
The cairolive.com rating: 6 (out of 10)
 This film has summer written all over it. It says it in a way that's smarter, and more effective than the summer comedies that have become the season's stalwart. That's the main thing Africano has going for it -- an originality in matching the summer mood with its tale and vision. It's a new kind of Egyptian film: one which takes place almost entirely in the lush vistas of South Africa.
Africano is an African fantasy scripted by Film Thaqafi's soft-spoken Mohamed Amin. Ahmed El-Sakka plays a veterinarian -- of all things -- who dreams of chasing lions, and doing advanced reserach on animals. Instead, he's stuck with mundane tasks at the zoo where he works. Just as he's approaching the point where he can't fulfill his dreams in Egypt, and is thinking seriously of getting out, a deus ex machina appears in the form of Hassan Hosny, a smooth talking Egyptian lawyer who lives in South Africa. He bears the bad news that El-Sakka's uncle has died, along with the news that El-Sakka is one of the inheritors of his uncle's South African wild game park.
We are instantly transported to another world. A fabulous hotel, surrounded by fields teeming with elephants, giraffes and other wildlife. The boys from Cairo get to have a laugh at some of the quirks of foreign countries, and El-Sakka and his brother in law, played by Ahmed Eid, pull it off by generating some genuine culture shock comedy. They get in trouble on a microbus, jump off a speeding train, and get to know their driver, cleverly played by a turbaned, gleamingly bald Talaat Zein. The film has some pretty good one liners, like Eid insisting on calling Zein Bakar, after the popular Egyptian children's show.
Eid is funny mainly because his delivery is so straight-faced. El-Sakka pulls off the "gadda'" character with Ahmed Ramzy's natural ease. Mona Zaki plays El-Sakka's spoiled cousin, who they must team up with to save the park from a Lebanese villain. She's good, as usual, managing to make the transformation from "brought up abroad cold witch" to gentle soul falling in love with the hero with well-paced ease.
El-Sakka gets to finally practice his veterinary skills, and chase down a lion to boot. Through it all everyone learns something, and even though you know what's going to happen, fresh young faces and exotic locations are a right equation for a monster summer hit.
Click here for photos from the star-studded premier.
Showing at:
Cairo Sheraton, Wonderland, Tiba, Renaissance, Drive In, Geniena, OG Maadi, Karim, Odeon, Cosmos, Heliopolis
Did you like this article? Send your comments to comments@cairolive.com
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