DMovies - Your platform for thought-provoking cinema
Almost entirely set in a police van during the protests following the Arab Spring, this claustrophobic and intense fiction lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "insider's view"

In 2013 the Egyptian military toppled the Muslim Brotherhood faction, two years after the demise of the decade-long dictator Hosni Mubarak. These events are directly linked to the broader movement in North Africa and the Middle East described as the Arab Spring of 2011. While hailed in West as a revolution of the people against autocratic and despotic regimes, the process wasn’t quite smooth (plus the outcome wasn’t always rosy, just think of Syria). Quite the opposite: these events have been fraught with sectarianism. This Egyptian fiction movie brilliantly synthesises these factional activities. It transposes the political tension into a confined space: a police van.

Quite literally, Clash offers an insider’s view into the conflicts that took place in Egypt in June 2013. Virtually all the action in the movie takes place inside the vehicle, and almost all the views of the outside are filmed from behind the bars of the van windows. It’s as if the filmmaker was a fly on the wall. Or an elephant in the room. What I’m saying is that the first-time filmmaker Mohamed Diab succeeds to capture the tension in every corner of a very small space populated with about 15 nervously haggling Egyptians, and yet his camera is never intrusive. There is a sense of claustrophobia and yet the film is never exploitative of the plight of the different characters, a balance difficult to achieve. The camerawork becomes particularly creative towards the end of the movie, when the action takes a very dangerous turn – once again, in the literal sense.

clash2800450
Not even a water canon can cool down the intense heat inside the police van.

Factionalism and division of all sorts prevail throughout the movie. Prisoners are categorised according to their political allegiance, nationality, job, gender, age and even their beard status. Unsurprisingly, these people argue relentlessly, and it’s not just their temper that’s at boiling point: the van itself is a heat trap for the African sun, and soon the prisoners begin to feel the effects of the extreme temperature.

The movie also has some teething problems, mainly in the script. The high numbers of characters prevents the filmmaker from developing them more thoroughly, and it’s difficult to feel allegiance towards any individuals. Perhaps this was intentional, as at such erratic times it’s indeed very difficult to pick your most reliable sidekick. There are some attempts at what seems to be sort sort of humour and flare, including a fat guy wearing a pan on his head, a man having to urinate in a bottle and a DJ reminescing his music but somehow this come across as a little contrived and awkward. Despite some flaws, Clash remains an effective and memorable movie.

Clash releases in UK cinemas on April 21st, with a few premiere screenings in London taking place before then. Get an idea of the claustrophobic feel and vibe of the movie by watching the film trailer below:


By Victor Fraga - 11-04-2017

Victor Fraga is a Brazilian born and London-based journalist and filmmaker with more than 20 years of involvement in the cinema industry and beyond. He is an LGBT writer, and describes himself as a di...

DMovies Poll

Are the Oscars dirty enough for DMovies?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Most Read

Forget Friday the 13th, Paranormal Activity and the [Read More...]
Just a few years back, finding a film [Read More...]
A lot of British people would rather forget [Read More...]
Pigs might fly. And so Brexit might happen. [Read More...]
Sexual diversity is at the very heart of [Read More...]
Films quotes are very powerful not just because [Read More...]

Read More

Poor Things where you never expected!

 

Pedro Garcia - 01-05-2024

Our reader Pedro Garcia came across Yorgos Lanthimos's dirty movie Poor Things in a very unexpectedly clean place: Disney Plus; he shares his thoughts about the peculiar experience [Read More...]

The 4 dirtiest love scenes in 50 Shades of Grey

 

Mariana Hallquist - 01-05-2024

Our reader Mariana Hallquist dissects the controversial sexual psychothriller from 2015, and reveals the steamy, the unexpected and the downright filthy scenes (including their timecode!) [Read More...]

Lie with Me

Clement Virgo
2005

Mariano Garcia - 01-05-2024

Thought-provoking, romantic drama movie about a sexually aggressive woman attracted to a deranged male lacks a concise storyline and in-depth characters - on all major VoD platforms [Read More...]

Facebook Comment

Website Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *