Souad Review: Religious Conservatism Clashes With Social Media in Egyptian Drama Souad Review: Religious Conservatism Clashes With Social Media in Egyptian Drama
A vibrant young woman north of Cairo is trapped between conflicting modes of comportment, with religion on one side and social media on the other.
Jay Weissberg, provided by
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Director: Ayten Amin
With: Bassant Ahmed, Basmala Elghaiesh, Hussein Ghanem, Hager Mahmoud, Sarah Shedid, Carol Ackad, Mona Elnamoury, Islam Shalaby, Nayera El Dahshoury. (Arabic dialogue)
Running time: Running time: 98 MIN.
Courtesy of Berlin Film Festival
There are two gods in “Souad,” Allah and smart phones, but in a battle between the two it’s clear who’ll be the winner. Ayten Amin’s bold second feature is brilliantly alive to the contradictions of teenage life in conservative Egypt, where the pressures of social media clash with traditional religious strictures, leading to schizophrenic lives of acute une