Opinions were divided between a supporter of the film who believes that art discusses any topic, no matter how daring, and opponents who believe that the film’s content is bold and inappropriate for Arab culture.
And the movie “Friends and Dearest” is the Arabic version of the famous Italian movie Perfect Strangers, which set a record in the number of copies presented around the world with a total of 18 copies, to become this version number 19, starring Mona Zaki, Iyad Nassar, Adel Karam, Nadine Labaki and Diamond Abboud and George Khabbaz, and directed by Wissam Samira.
The events of the film revolve around a group of 7 friends who meet for dinner and decide to play a game, where each of them puts his phone on the table so that the messages or calls he receives are in full view of everyone.
The game, which was initially fun and interesting, soon turns into a barrage of scandals that no one knew about, including husbands and best friends.
Egyptian art critic Tariq El-Shennawy believes that the criticism directed at the film is “laughable and ridiculous,” stressing “the need to stop asking the artist to represent himself only.”
Al-Shennawi indicated in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, that “the artist represents any dramatic character and impersonates it as it is. The film was subjected to this severe attack due to the presence of Mona Zaki among the heroes of the work, and it would have gone unnoticed without her presence.”
He stressed that “the work did not advocate or defend homosexuality at all, but only presented its existence, and with regard to some daring dialogues, the viewer must know that cinema is not managed with moral judgments.”
On the other hand, art critic Ahmed Saad El-Din expressed his admiration for the photography, lighting, directing, performance and decoration, but he directed several criticisms of the film.
Saad El-Din said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”: “By comparing the two versions (Italian and Arabic), they are completely similar, which means that Arabic took Italian as it is without creativity or change, and on this basis I say that the dazzling is not attributed to the Arabic version, but to the makers The Italians movie.
He stressed that “the script had to be Arabized to suit the Arab community in general, as was the case before, as in the 1974 film The Enemy Brothers, which was taken from the international film The Brothers Karamanov.”
Saad El-Din criticized the film’s release of homosexuality, which “appeared without a dramatic necessity,” according to his opinion, explaining: “As an Arab society, we must not copy foreign copies and imitate them blindly, because there are some things that do not work in our societies.”
He concluded by saying, “It was necessary to adjust a script in line with the customs and traditions of the Arab community, because cinema is a reflection of reality. The film had many problems, and creativity here is attributed to the original work, not to imitation.”
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