The Confusion in the Middle

Gawaz bi Qarar Gomhouri
(Wedding by Republican Decree)


Amr (Hany Ramzy) and Hanan (Hanan Turk) want to get married. They're from the same neighborhood, but Hanan's parents have recently "moved on up", and as anyone who's seen the American sitcom the Jeffersons
can attest, now snub their noses at their former neighbors from the narrow alleyway, since they live
way up high, in the hills of Mokattem.

Amr and Hanan's love has withstood this seismic class
shift, somehow, and as the film Gawaz bi Qarar Gomhouri (Wedding by Republican Decree) begins, the
two are being brought into a hospital's intensive care ward after a faked mutual suicide attempt caused by their parents disapproval of their impending marriage.

Both Amr and Hanan are wearing t-shirts with the other's photo on it, and that sight gag -- from the film's very get-go -- establishes the level of seriousness with which the characters, and the plot they're about to go through, should be taken.

While waiting 8 years after graduation for a job he deserves at the Foreign Ministry, Amr drives a microbus. When he finally gets his dream job, it ends up being in the Ministry's archives, a far cry from
the diplomatic ambitions he'd been harboring. It would certainly not be a stretch to say that Sami Sarhan, who plays Amr's boss, has become the modern cinematic archetype of the obnoxious old style boss who doesn't like or encourage youth in any way. We've seen him play this same role in at least 3 films in the last two years.

Amr's dad, meanwhile, a film extra with dreams of being a star, but whose largest ever part in decades of work was a one-liner, is barely surviving,. So when it comes time to plan the wedding, Amr finds himself trying to decide whether he's going to serve his guests a basterma sandwich and a piece of gateaux or just a sandwich, while Hanan's dad is inviting all sorts of big wigs to the party.

Wanting to feel important in some way, on a whim, Amr decides to mail out a wedding invitation to the President.

When his invitation is accepted, Amr becomes a celebrity, an overnight VIP, practically a minister without portfolio. Now that he's going meet the president, everyone wants him to ask for a favor on
their behalf . He is inundated with requests, just like anyone who comes into some authority. He gets letters by the hundreds from people all across the country, wanting help with their problems. Even
the big wigs -- the governor, the parliament rep from the neighborhood -- they all want favors. Even his best friend and former co-worker on the microbus, starts charging people for the right to have a word with Amr.

Amr's status -- as well as that of his family -- instantly rises. At work, he gets a desk with a computer, so his colleagues can all admire him play games. His father, the extra, becomes a star, now pampered by the same director who previously kicked him off the
set (a cameo played by the film's own director Khaled Youssef). His mother, who is illterate, becomes a member of the Lioness's Club.
His alleyway -- Mammoun al-Qird (Maamoun the Monkey) is renamed Maamoun bik Al-Qird (Sir Maamoun the Monkey).

Then, disaster strikes -- the class difference issue comes up again, and Amr breaks up with Hanan. But now their wedding is too important to cancel. Whole government agencies are assigned to try and get them back together. Peace summits take place in Sharm
El-Sheikh. The media is following the issue closely, with the government denying rumors that the wedding is off.

There's a scene here where the way forlorn lovers sit and sulk in their rooms, living out their failed love stories through sappy pop music, is successfully made fun of, and another surreal moment when one of the only things slightly convincing Amr to get back together with Hanan is finding out that Shaaban Abdel-Rehim sang a song asking him to.

It's moments like this -- when the film manages to achieve just the right amount of silly, that it points to some of the odder of our modern tendencies, achieving a surreal type of comedy that is far more edifying than the sight gags or one-liners that otherwise litter it.

The film's strength lies in how it portrays the way everybody confuses what the leader wants with what they think he wants -- the common syndrome of the office manager thinking he knows more about what the boss wants than the boss himself. Here it is portrayed in the debate about whether the wedding should take
place in an alleyway or a hotel. This cinematic attempt is perhaps most worthy for its exploration -- silly as it may be -- of why even if it does take place in the alleyway, the alleyway is spruced up
though the president specifically said he wanted to get a real look at how the average citizen lives.