The Mummy

This film on one level is about the discovery of a cache of royal mummies, rediscovered by a local grave robbing family on the west bank at Luxor in Egypt. On another level it is about the guilt felt by one member of that family for the exploitation of the heritage of the country made by that discovery. This is truly a beautiful film in which full use has been made of the locales and local color, beautifully directed and acted and entirely convincing as an examination of family conflict in a 19th century Egyptian setting. It did not have a large American audience at the time of its release, probably because it is in Arabic with subtitles.

This is certainly a very unique and mystical film. The director was extremely meticulous, and paid great attention to details. The result is a great movie, that one would enjoy watching over and over again. It might be a bit slow for a few spectators, but that is not what everybody thinks.

"Al-Mummia" is a tragedy of the collision if two cultures. The effendis of Cairo are loyal to the history of the 21st Dynasty. the tribe of people dwelling among ancient tombs are sustained by and called on to be loyal to the ways of their more immediate ancestors. The one group sees hierogylphs as inscrutable or meaningless, the other can apparently read them right off. The stateliness of the narrative style of the movie some might say is operatic, or rather, it has the solemnity of ancestral ways. In particular, the movie is a rare success in conveying the sacrality of artifacts of the particular religion of the pharaohs. The camera, for example, cautiously follows a "secret trail" into a tomb, watches a dark corner being turned before it turns itself, shows the desecration of prying the lid of a sarcophagus and touching the mummy inside. (I may be particularly vulnerable, taken on trips as a child to a museum where I was dared to see into a mummy by x-ray.)

A very un-sentimental view of serious moral struggle. The silent messages of the ancients seems to speak as eloquently as the poetically formal language of the tribal elders. Not for everyone, to be sure, but a tour-de-force of fusing visual imagery with a message of deep principles.

Not sure how I came across this film, but I'm soooo grateful I did, it's a masterpiece: an art-house film that carries the power and mystery of Ancient Egypt.

The story unfolds in the 1800s. An isolated Egyptian mountain clan sustains itself by exploiting Egypt's ancient heritage. When there is a shift in power, the protagonist is presented with a moral dilemma: continue the old ways, which are immoral, or find some new, as yet unknown path forward? In the end, nothing is clear: there is no uncontestable good or evil in anyone's actions.

The film has a powerful mood of portentous mystery that's sustained from the first frame to the last. The film moves slowly, and in doing so, gains a profound, immersive depth. The characters speak slowly, poetically, with every word of great significance. Some of the acting is unforgettably strong, including the roles of Wanis, the archaeologist, and some of the clan elders. The score, of dark distant droning Egyptian music and surreal wind and atmospheric sounds, adds to the foreboding mood. The cinematography is incredible, especially the bizarre and stunningly beautiful prolonged final sequence.

The film may ultimately be taken to be a philosophical inquiry into how we can or should relate to the traumas of past. If the existing relation is harmful, how to find a new way? And how to be sure the new ways will be an improvement?

I'm saddened to find out the director/writer Chadi Abdel Salam made only one film in his life. But with "The Night of Counting the Years", he created an incredible synthesis of the mysterious power of the heritage of Ancient Egypt with the power of experimental cinema. It's a magnificent accomplishment.