hollywood's arab terrorists

Last night I went to see Body of Lies with some friends, and it was kind of funny because although we did not know it when we chose the movie, the whole thing takes place in the Middle East. Jordan, Syria, Iraq, UAE -- pretty much everywhere but Egypt.

Anyway, it was hilarious to be seeing it here in the Middle East for a few reasons. First, it was cool that I could understand some of the Arabic, especially the parts that were in fus'ha (classical Arabic, which is what I studied at Northwestern). In the beginning they had this extremist Muslim decked out in typical Hollywood Arab gear making a threatening video that happened to be in Arabic -- but they had him speaking in fus'ha, which people don't really speak. People were laughing in the theater -- probably not the intended effect. I will say that it was weird to see a movie in which all the villains are Arabs here in Egypt. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone feels marginalized by that kind of movie, but the theater was pretty full and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, so maybe not.

But yes, there were many other typical Middle Eastern moments in the movie. At one point, one character is trying to cross the street and almost gets hit by a car, so he angrily slams his fist on the hood of the car. We were all cracking up because that has happened to all of us in Cairo (seriously, crossing the street could be a national sport), so it seemed so appropriate to see it on screen. Another character is referred to as Ya Pasha, which is very Egyptian (though here it's pronounced more like Yeh Besha); it's an honorific title left over from the days of the Ottomans and is kind of like the equivalent of "Sir." Plus they drank lots and lots of tea in lots and lots of 'ahwas. When we foreigners laughed along with the Egyptians, it kind of felt like being in on a giant inside joke that would not have been the case if I had seen the movie back in America.