Tickling Giants

" The words is mightier than the swords " .. 6 years ago , i hated u too much to even get to know who you are , i think it was all 'cause of my political ideology back then ..

but now after watching all of your show episodes , i realized how important you were for the revolution objectives to be fulfilled ..

the only losers after shutting down your show were the Egyptians themselves ..

wish u all the best , Bassem , and hope u get back soon ..

This documentary is more thrilling and touching than any movie I've seen in 2017. It's the story of a charismatic, courageous man who decided to take on the mighty and the powerful with humor.

If you've ever heard and believed the expression "the pen is mightier than the sword", you'll find it is even more true when you understand the literal (original) meaning of pen is feather. For the sword-bearers in this film seem to be even more afraid of a tickling feather than they are of the written word.

Humor and laughter are the most disarming weapons against dictators, but sadly, the times where at least the fool was allowed to speak the truth to the king seem to be long gone.

This film tells one of the most captivating stories I've come across in a long time, and I highly recommend it to any film fan, but in particular to fans of political satire and intelligent comedy. 9 stars out of 10.

Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

If you were like me, you were enthralled by the kids who help topple Egypt's Mubarak regime what seems like ages ago. Dr. Bassem Youssef emerged out of that chaos, and played the role of gadfly to the next regime, all-the-while following a script that folks like Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert had made famous in the United States.

Tickling Giants deconstructs Bassem Youssef's story following a combination of interviews, on-air broadcasts and contributions from Stewart, various political pundits and even Youssef's family. It would be a beautiful, poignant take on the life of a comedian, but...of course, the crash of Egypt's brief democratic experiment is reeling in the background.

Sara Taksler--Producer for the The Daily Show--ventures into documentary film remarkably, with a story that does not allow itself to be choked with data nor overwhelmed by the giant personality that is Bassem Youssef. What emerges instead is Youssef's amazing mixture of idiocy and courage, with those who took him to the Ball now begging to be the first to hang him from the rafters. It is a peculiarly effective documentary--moving forward in time but backwards progressively as Egypt descends, and as the threats, charges and actions against Youseff begin to pile up.

Perhaps the most telling part of the film is the courage of Youssef's staff--compiled of an amazing group of talented young writers, it is easy to see why Youseff is so sad. It is not his own but their future that he is risking his jokes to defend. For those who do not have friends from the Arab world, a couple of minutes with his crew tosses aside any preconceptions of what it means to be from the Middle East, and I was left saddened to think that the ones likely to be trampled first when the giants are tickled are these funny, courageous women and men.

On every level, Taksler's years of working with satire and shorts for the Daily show has allowed her to create this documentary like a series of haiku, and the beautiful sadness that is Tickling Giants serves well either as art or education, though it remains a documentary pleading for a better ending than the one Egypt's dictators seem to be planning.

What hurts the most is that I personally lived every moment of this documentary. It was nothing less than a revolution regardless of what school books will share now. The people have awoken and next time around it will not be so easy to keep them quiet.

Saw this at the Leiden International Film Festival 2016 (LIFF, website: leidenfilmfestival.nl/en), where it was part of a program Humor in Islamic Countries, in addition to The Lizard (Kamal Tabrizi, 2004) shown earlier that day. Luckily, there was an introductory speech that explained some aspects we would easily have overlooked otherwise, some of the advantages of a festival above a "normal" screening in a cinema around the corner.

A few weeks earlier, before and after the screening of Clash (original title: Eshtebak) at the Film Fest Ghent 2016, we learned from director Mohamed Diab that humor is a normal vehicle for Egyptians to escape from bitter circumstances, even at funerals or other sad moments. Knowing that, both Clash and Tickling Giants leave us with the impression that satire is Egyptian history for now. Humor may still serve its purpose in-house, but it cannot be used anymore against authorities or governmental institutions.

Back to Tickling Giants: Spanning several years, it gave a good impression how the political climate in Egypt changed, and how little elbowing room there was eventually left for satire or critical remarks against authority. Opponents of Youssef's talk show argued that it was a feeble time for upcoming democracy in Egypt, that trust in authority was better not disturbed. In other words, later there will come more room for free speech. We cannot have it now, certainly not at this very moment with a fresh democracy under construction.

The TV network broke under the pressure and even sued the presenter (cannot imagine why, but they said he broke his contract), though the president stated on TV that this premature ending was not his doing. Who are we to believe?? This is certainly the morale of this movie, even if we refuse to see conspiracies all around. We know of countries where you can be locked away nowadays as a journalist because of doing what you are paid to do. It is something we previously thought was typical for underdeveloped third-world countries. That is not true anymore.