El Nazer
El Nazer (literally Headmaster or The Principal) is an Egyptian Comedy Film released in 2000.[1] Directed by Sharif Arafah, The film stars Alaa Waley El Din who plays
| The Headmaster | |
|---|---|
| El Nazer | |
| Directed by | Sharif Arafah |
| Starring | Alaa Waley El Din |
Release date | July 26, 2000 |
Running time | 120 Minutes |
| Country | Egypt |
| Language | Arabic |
Search El Nazer on Amazon.
as six characters . The movie is now widely known in Egypt for introducing several comedic actors who would make it big in the 2000's such as Ahmed Helmy and Mohammed Saad.[2]
El Din would only act in one more movie after this. His health was in tragic decline due to obesity and stress until he suffered a fatal heart attack in 2003. The movie is often considered to be one of the reasons for his death.
Plot[edit]
The film's opening scene shows a succession of a family of principals. In an Ancient Egyptian School where a Pharaoh is teaching several young scribes, rather comically, a couple of words. Then suddenly, a foreign army invades.
The time then switches to the Mamluk Era, where several Arabs, who speak in classical Arabic, visit a teacher. The teacher then tells them a riddle, with the rewards being beautiful women. None of them solve it.
The film then shifts to the 1919 Revolution, where people protest with several chants. When then find several soldiers carrying guns, they change their chant to "Turn around."
Then the movies transports us to the present day, in a public school. Where there's an obese principal named Ashor speaking to the school as if it was a military drill. This principal is the father of the main character, Salah Eddine. The principal is always mad and talks as if there's a frog in his throat. He always threatens the vice principal(Hassan Hosny.) And all the students despise him. While he's talking to Sayed, the vice principal, he has a heart attack and suddenly dies. Salah Eddine, largely unexperienced, replaces him.
Salah's mom(Gawaher) then announces that she and her friends are going to her husband's funeral and won't come back for two weeks. Salah then invites two old friends, Atef(Helmy) and El-Lembi(Saad.) They're both childish and stupid. El-Lembi doesn't even recognize Salah or Atef at first.
They then convince Salah to take a break from being a principal and they go on several misadventures.
They go to a prostitution house, where police find the place and Salah and Atef are arrested. Sayed then bails Salah out and tries to talk to him into getting serious for leading the school. Salah says he will only take the job seriously if Sayed also bails out Atef. They both agree.
Salah then says a speech to the school, dressed in Ashour's clothes and glasses and he lies that Ashour is still alive, so the students are still scared.
Salah then visits several classrooms, seeing the bad teachers and the fact that students are learning nothing. Atef starts a relationship with the English teacher. Salah also meets Wafa, a girl who was in the same school as him.
Despite this, Salah is still childish and goes to a bar with Atef, where they try alcohol. They get drunk and start a fight with buff people playing 8-Ball. They return home badly beaten. Where El-Lemby treats them both to tea. Suddenly, Both the English teacher and Wafa come. Wafa gives flowers to Salah, where he first lies but he then tells her the truth about his beatings. Meanwhile, Atef and the English teacher are dancing to funk music. Their relationship is comical due to both of them being stupid and the fact that she's taller than him. It's also notable that the actor playing as the English teacher is a transgender.
Salah's mother then comes in during the 'double date' and expels the girls out.
Meanwhile, Sayed and the Secretary come in the school to find kids goofing around and playing Soccer. They go to Salah's office and let him sign his name individually in a giant stack of papers for the school budget. Wafa arrives and argues with Salah, telling him to change his personality and Sayed falls for Gawaher, Salah's mom.
The films shows that Salah and the School board can't get along, constantly arguing. A note to make is that public schools in Egypt are separated in two parts, one for boys and the other for girls. The principal for the all female school and Salah can't get together, so they decided to settle it with a competition in the end of the year. In order to show which school is superior. This inspires Salah to improve his school.
Hussein, a member of the school board who's friends with Wafa, notices how bad the students are, with some of them smoking and fighting. He notices that they reason they treat the teachers and other students bad is because of the bad environment. Hussein then leads Salah to a 'hidden treasure' which is a underground library. Hussein says that Ashor kept it for Salah so it could help in education. Salah doesn't understand and says that kids hate books.
Hussein shows him a book of pharaonic times, and he tells Salah to become a student among them and to change the education system. He also tells him to wear more casual clothes.
The next day, Hussein and Salah come to find out that Sayed is delivering the daily speech. Sayed is strict and wants the children to be scared of him. Salah takes the microphone from him. Salah says that school policies are going to be changed and that the people who want to learn, will learn. He then says that the front gate won't be closed and that, "Whoever doesn't want to be here can leave." Hearing this, all the students rush out. Hussein says it's no problem and that their parents are going to force them to come back.
El-Lemby then teaches Salah several ways to strength himself and says that he must be cut 5 times to show strength. Salah runs away. Meanwhile, Sayed meets with Gawaher.
Salah is then showed with a problem. A boy went to the other school and talked with a girl. This is strictly prohibited in Egyptian Public Schools. Salah then talks with the boy. The boy says he talked to her since he misses and loves her. The other people, including the Female Principal, object to this. She then says that regardless, she's going to win the competition. The other people, not knowing this, decide to make sure to win it. Salah then says that he will resign if he fails.
Salah then joins in a history class, where he tries to calm down the teacher and make friends with the students. One of the students who is a known troublemaker (and has probably been held back a couple of times since he's bald) speaks up. He's against the competition.
Salah then joins a PE class, where he fights Karate and has to stick his hands into hot fire.
Salah then meets with Wafa, Hussein and Atef, telling them that this newfound job is hard. Since they're all outside and are freezing, they decide to leave. However, Atef stays, sitting down with a fan and cooling himself off.
Salah goes to his house and watches how him mom is watching TV. A commercial plays. It's unclear what it is but they announce that they're giving out bikes and other goodies as gifts for winners. Salah is inspired and copies the idea. The next day, he tells the students about potential rewards and they all cheer.
In school, the Bald kid is messing around and Salah comes up. The other kids make a ring around them, as if it's a fight. The bald kid punches him. But then Salah delivers back by jumping on him. The bald kid starts to cry and Salah calms him and tells him to go to his class. All the students cheer him for this victory.
The next scene shows the school progressively improving. Hussein and Salah are proud. Salah continues practice with the PE class.
Sayed is then mad and tells Gawaher to remember Ashor and his legacy. They then decide to have a date. They go to a disco club and drink soda. She goes up the stage, joins several dancers and dances to Mambo No.5.
The next day, Sayed is mad that he wasn't able to change Gawaher's mind. He takes some official papers and drives to the competition. He jumps in the car and finds Gawaher in the passenger seat. She reminds him that that today is their wedding. A bunch of Gawaher's friends, coming from the back of the car start to do sahruta(a unique sound made with the tongue. It's reserved for certain events such as weddings and is only done by women.)
Unknowing, Gawaher and her friends appear to be in some form of cult. They force him to drive to a place. And they chain Sayed up, tie him in a chair and they start singing while drumming the floor with broom sticks. Meanwhile, the competition is starting and Salah is wondering why the secretary is late. While the boy, preparing for the competition, sees the girl he likes and looks at her. She looks back and she's then slapped by the female principal. She starts crying.
Ignoring all of that, the competition starts to take shape. People are starting to sit and the judges are ready. The teams are starting from the youngest people to the oldest. The host starts the completion and the boys win the first question.
The movie jumps to the secretary. He's in a car with several student(who're of the oldest age group) and they're lost. The students, then notice that the secretary is purposely trying to be lost and they step off the car. Meanwhile, the girls win the second question and the boys have a hard time in the third. The girls win the first age group. The boys apologize to Salah and Salah tells them that it's ok since they tried their best.
In the second age group, the boys and the girls both get their respective first questions right. Meanwhile, the boys left over are running to the competition. It is then revealed that the boys and girls are currently tied at 7:7. The boys win another question and the girls lose the other. Now the score is 8:7. The bald kid is then shown to be by the corner.
Now they wait for the largest age group. After a while, the host looks at his watch. The boys, tired of running, are shown to have taken a break. The history teacher says that they should continue without the boys, which secures victory for the girls(3 questions.) Salah and Hussein advise him to wait at least 5 minutes. He refuses and the host says he will go on, which basically declares victory for the girls. The bald boy, enraged, shoots a spitball at the host's nose and the boys cheer. The female principal says nothing has changed and they will keep going on. They argue, which gives time for the late boys to keep running. After this, the boys appear and the final showdown starts.
The host, with his nose bandaged, continues the competition. And after a close game, the host declares that the boys won. He then runs for his life. Salah and the rest celebrate. Salah then confesses to the history teacher that he never attended secondary school and that he aspires to be a student and graduate. The female principal is then shown to be mad.
In a scene, one year later, Wafa is shown to be fully pregnant and being taken to the emergency room. Wafa's parents and Gawaher are rushing to the room. The doctor then proudly says that it appears the woman is pregnant. Salah says he has known that for 9 months. Meanwhile, in the elevator, El-Lemby, Atef and the English Teacher are going up. Atef has flowers and keeps smelling them. El-Lemby and Atef argue and the English teacher drags El-Lemby back and forth.
The doctor is then shown to be removing the baby from the womb. Salah comes in next to him, with a surgeon suit and the proper tools(in Egypt, back then it was rare for the father to be in the room.) The doctors tells him to leave but Salah wants to help. Then Sayed, in a wheelchair and white hair, is taken to the hospital by the Cult Members. He then sees Gawaher and screams. She touches him and he turns even crazier.
Wafa's mom then takes out money, possibly to tip the doctor and Gawaher argues. They all start fighting and arguing with each other when suddenly Salah comes in and announces that the baby has been born. They all look at the nursery to see the son. They all say certain remarks such as "He's so cute" and "He looks like a future Principal." But Atef then asks Salah, "How old is he?"(in Arabic, he literally asks how many years he is.)
The baby, shown to be obviously a doll, shouts, "Hail the Arabic Republic of Egypt!" and all the babies in the nursery follow suit.
Cast[edit]
Alaa Waley El Din- Ancient Egyptian Teacher, Mamluk Era Scholar, Protester, Salah Eddine, Ashor and Gawaher.
Ahmed Helmy- Atef
Mohammed Saad- El-Lembi
Hassan Hosny- Sayed
Basma- Wafa, Music Teacher
Soleimen Eid- Secretary
Hesham Selim-Hussein
Legacy[edit]
The film is known for introducing the El-Lembi Character, it later led to a huge new franchise featuring Saad.[3]
This was Ahmed Helmy's second movie. He later on went to star in comedy films such as X-large.[4]
The film is often considered one of the reasons for El Din's premature death three years later. He died of a heart attack(like the Ashor character) due to obesity and stress. Acting out as six characters and doing stunts, while comical, was also an obvious work overload for him.
This was the first Egyptian film in the era to tackle the theme of education. It points at several problems of the system and the culture. The movie shows that Mubarak was fine with more liberal Movies.
This article "El Nazer" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:El Nazer. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ The Headmaster, retrieved 2019-03-12
- ↑ الناظر - فيلم - 2000 - طاقم العمل، فيديو، الإعلان، صور، النقد الفني، مواعيد العرض Check
|url=value (help) (in العربية), retrieved 2019-03-12 - ↑ "El-Limby", Wikipedia, 2018-09-22, retrieved 2019-03-12
- ↑ "X-Large (film)", Wikipedia, 2019-03-11, retrieved 2019-03-12
