Ossama Fawzi's Fallen Angels Paradise (Gannet Al-Shayatin) is anoddly grotesque black comedy that uses the corpse of a recently deceased homeless man toforce together two disparate worlds in modern-day Egypt: the wealthy bourgeoisie and the"fallen angels" of the title, the criminal underclass who live by a rule of no rules.

Dead bodies can, of course, be quite expressive despite their inanimate status--AlfredHitchcock got a lot of mileage out of one in The Trouble With Harry (1955), andAndrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman spent an entire movie trying to convince peopletheir dead boss's corpse was an animated party animal in the ridiculous comedyWeekend at Bernie's (1990).

However, one would be hard-pressed to remember a corpse quite as expressive as Tabl,who is played by Mahmoud Hemida, who also produced the film. When he we first seeTabl, he is sitting upright in a chair, a bottle clutched in one hand, his head thrown back, anda strangely compelling open smile--almost a half-laugh--scrawled on his face. His eyes aretightly shut, and our gaze keep getting drawn back to that gaping smile, an expression thatwill haunt the rest of the film. Tabl's inanimate expression never changes during the film's80-minute duration, yet at different points in the story it seems to take on different meanings.At one minute, it seems the look of happy contentment, a sign that he died in full enjoyment;at other times, it seems mocking to those around him who are dueling over who gets hisbody.

Tabl was once named Mounir Rasmi, and he was a successful businessman, a dedicatedfather and husband. But, for reasons that are never made entirely clear, 10 years earlier hesuddenly left that life and joined the underworld. When he dies, he is hanging out andgambling with three young hoodlums--Nonna (Amr Waked), Boussy (Salah Fahmi), andAdel (Sari El-Naggar). Unsure of what to do with the dead body, Nonna, Boussy, and Adeldecide to make a profit on it. First, they try to sell Tabl's two gold teeth, only to find outthey are plated. So, they sell his body to a medical school for up-front cash.

Meanwhile, Tabl's lover, Hobba (Lebleba), an aging prostitute, feels that his family must beinformed, which leads to the first of many simmering conflicts between the underworld and"respectable" society. The film's views on the Egyptian bourgeoisie are made crystal clear inTabl's daughter, Salwa (Caroline Khalil), a cool, calculating woman whose only desire is tomake sure her father gets a decent, Christian burial so that the family's respectability can bemaintained in the eyes of others.

Salwa's actions are clearly not motivated by love for her long-missing father. Rather, hermotive seems to be maintaining the dignity of her upper-class position. When the coronerinforms her that her father died of an overdose, she quickly pays him off and ensures that thedeath certificate reads "heart attack." She spends a great deal of money to return Tabl'scorpse to a respectable state--he is cleaned up, shaved, and dressed in an expensive suit, andhe is to be carried to his funeral in a large casket driven in a limousine. All of Salwa's effortsare expended in order to erase the last ten years. It is as if Tabl is being erased from thecorpse and rewritten as Mounir Rasmi.

Fallen Angels Paradise is an important moment in Egyptian cinema, as itrepresents one of country's most concerted efforts to fashion a contemporary, technicallysound feature film. The finished product is certainly polished, even by Hollywoodstandards. Cinematographer Tarek Telmessani gives the film a slick visual look, oftensharply contrasting darkness with penetrating beams of light. Director Ossama Fawzi, in hissophomore effort, keeps the film moving at a brisk pace, and his elicits good performancesfrom his actors, especially the trio of hoodlums, all of whom are played by first-timers.

However, as a whole, Fallen Angels Paradise never really comes together. Thetone of the film is wildly (perhaps purposefully) uneven. Some moments are dark anddespairing, while other scenes are sharp with black humor, and still others are goofy andgiddy, punctuated with a comical bass line on the soundtrack. The film has run into quite abit of controversy in Egypt, mainly for its free-wheeling and non-condemning depiction ofcriminality and its humorous use of a corpse in a culture that reifies death and traditionalfuneral rituals.

In this way, the film is certainly daring, and there are moments that work very well. Yet, it'stoo much of a pastiche. As a major step forward in Egyptian cinema, it certainly is animportant film. But, at the same time, it is also evidence that there is still room forimprovement.

�2001 James Kendrick