Desert & Desire

Yesterday I re-watched the Egyptian movie "Desert & Desire" ("Raghba Motawahesha"). The movie was a typical example of an energy movie.

Its energy mix relied heavily on sex and money. Force also came into play in the form of the rifle and the ending of the movie with the death of the visitor or hero of the movie. A tragic ending that can classify the movie as a tragedy if we want to classify it using the tragedy-comedy system.

The sex element of course was the most prevalent of the three energy elements. Not only because the three women in the movie had a sexual desire towards the hero (tragic hero, if we may say so) and actually had sex with him, except for the youngest one, but because even the title of the movie itself was a bare sexual expression "Forceful Desire" which is closer the the Arabic title. This forceful desire may also refer to the desire for money which brings us to the second energy element: money.

Although the movie relies heavily on the first two energy elements sex and money and also does not forget to make use of the third one namely force or violence yet it does have some positive or let's say artistic elements in it.

The director of the movie systematically uses scenes of wild animal life to symbolize or foreshadow the actual events taking place in the movie. The scorpion digging in the sand, the fox coming for the hens but being killed with a rifle by the wife, the same rifle which she uses to kill the visitor at the end of the movie. Also the eagle flying in the sky.

Another good element in the movie was its dialog. The scenario is well written.

Although the short symbolic wild animal scenes are something to praise the director for yet they are still not well blended into the movie and are to some extent artificially inserted into it.

Despite its good scenario and not-bad acting also it's symbolic and foreshadowing scenes the film lacks any real message. It lacks coherence and is far from being an organic aesthetic work of art that elevates the soul and spirit. It only works on the base desires, its title not hiding that, as other energy movies do.