Eshtebak is an Arabic foreign language film produced in Egypt.
The film depicts a group of people in Cairo being held captive by police forces after Arab Spring conflicts in 2013.
Eshtebak, which entirely takes place in the back of an armored police truck, touches on the massive political complexities seen in Egypt through it's population.
The Egyptian film touches on a multitude of issues relating to the Arab Spring revolution, post Arab Spring conflicts, Egyptian political polarization, societal distrust between political rivals and the vast ramifications politics has on broad Egyptian society.
Synopsis
Eshtebak follows the story of a group of strangers with different political, social, religious and economic backgrounds being held as criminals in the back of a truck during a city-wide political riot.
Each of the people find themselves arrested for different reasons ranging from participating in protest, trying to help the injured, trying to flee from conflict or not having documents on their person.
As time passes the situation outside of the truck heightens as conflict rises around them. The police are met with significant conflict in the form of protesters, rioters, insurgents and overall mass chaos.
The people in the back of the truck deal with all of the turmoil around them as well as conflict between each other in the confined space. Members of the group disagree with others, which creates even more hostility to an already tumultuous situation.
The remainder of the film follows the people trapped in the truck as police forces struggle to deal with the spread of anarchy around the city. While conflict inside the truck grows as the trapped strangers desperately look for ways to escape.
Important Themes
As you can tell Eshtebak directly touches on many real world issues relating to Egyptian politics, societal divides and actions carried out by police and military forces in post-Arab Spring demonstrations.
Today, Egypt is a country riddled with many problems of governance, corruption and inequality. A large reason for these problems stem from their being a lack of separation between the government and military. As well as the presence of many divides among economic, political, social and cultural lines. Much of this can be explained through the history of the country.
Over the past couple of decades the country has gone through many regime changes, which have in turn sent ripples through the fabric of Egyptian society.
Hosni Mubarak was elected as President in 1981 and held the presidency until 2011. During his reign, referendums were held more than three times to extend his presidency. It has been revealed that these referendums largely outlined that Mubarak was the only candidate people could vote for and that there were instances where the government was responsible for rigging elections.
To read more about Egyptian election fixing you can read this article written by The Guardian.
In 2005, Mubarak was elected as President for another six year term with 87% of the vote. After the election Mubarak jailed Ayman Nour, the leader of the opposition party for forgery. Nour was later released in 2009.
However, from 2009 to 2011 Mubarak's government continued to use propaganda to delegitimize and outlaw his political opposition. Which created even more political divides between opposing political parties.
In 2011, the Arab Spring saw Mubarak flee Egypt as the military took control of the country. Shortly after the country's constitution and parliament was dissolved.
Then in 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood (which previously was outlawed) became president.
However, his time in power was short stayed as in 2013 a coup d'état saw Morsi removed from his presidency. Initiating another period of military governance, massive political unrest, killings and distrust across political lines.
The 2013 coup saw a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood from the military as well as both conservative and liberal political opposition. During the coup hundreds and thousands were killed as forces continued to stifle the Muslim Brotherhood and their other enemies.
In 2014, former Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected as president.
Much like his predecessors, Sisi has run his government like a dictator. He has continued to quiet his opposition, crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood and in elections he is the only choice people see on ballots.
Just recently, at the time of writing, Sisi has been re-elected as president. An election which suspiciously shows that Sisi won over 97% of votes.
It is clear to see that even now not much has changed in Egypt. Tensions are now just as high and volatile. As a film, Eshtebak does well to touch on this level of distrust and divide.
Conclusion
Ultimately Eshtebak is a very strong film. Not often do we get to see powerful film coming out of Egypt. Most specifically film critical of the government that speaks to widespread societal tensions.
Eshtebak is a film you should really consider watching. It dives headfirst into a myriad of issues facing modern Egyptians. Highlighting how complex societal issues are throughout the country today.
If you are interested in politics or are someone who likes hearing about worldly narratives.
I would highly recommend Eshtebak. It tells a story of difference, intense emotions and survival in both a changing and isolated environment.