Why
would a supposedly democratically elected government prohibit any public
screening of a film with absolutely no violent or sexual content? In the case
of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohamed Morsi administration, a documentary
describing how a sizable Jewish community once peacefully coexisted with Egypt’s
Muslim majority was evidently not considered fit for public consumption,
despite slavishly hewing to an “anti-Zionist” line. Arriving as a modest cause célèbre
due to the fallen Morsi government’s misadventure in censorship (they eventually
relented), Amir Ramses’ Jews of Egypt (trailer here) opens this
Friday in New York.
During
the first half of the Twentieth Century, a number of Egypt’s leading citizens
happened to be Jewish. To this day, Laila Mourad remains one of the nation’s
most popular recording artists, though many are apparently unaware of her
Jewish heritage, judging from the brief man-on-the-streets interviews that open
the film.
According
to surviving members of the community, nearly all Jewish Egyptians self-identified
with their country first and foremost, whereas their Jewish religion and
culture was of secondary concern—if that. Everyone goes to agonizing lengths to
distinguish between Jews and Zionists, clearly pre-supposing there is something
fundamentally problematic about the latter. Yet, despite the vehement
anti-Israeli sentiment expressed by many prominent Jewish Egyptians, they
collectively found Egyptian increasingly inhospitable following Nasser’s ascent
to power.
Ironically,
the experience of the unflaggingly loyal anti-Zionist Jewish Egyptians
dramatically proves the Zionist point. Despite their Communist,
anti-colonialist political affiliations, they were still arm-twisted into
immigrating and, most painfully, renouncing their Egyptian nationality. Some
were even imprisoned on the scantest of charges, solely because they were
Jewish.
Nonetheless,
Ramses and his assembled talking heads are not particularly inclined to ironic
self-awareness. As far as historical accuracy goes, JOE is also highly suspect. Frankly, the film works best when
examining the interrelations between the various members of the loose-knit
Jewish-Egyptian society. Who knew whom and where they all wound up is rather
engaging stuff.
