Terrorism and Kebab

Sherif Arafa's 1992 Egyptian comedy takes place in the Mogamma, the vast government building on Cairo's Tahrir Square. Ahmed, an ordinary clerk, goes there again and again to transfer his son to another school and is sent to a different desk every time. In a scuffle he ends up holding a weapon and, without meaning to, holding the people inside hostage. The state declares him a terrorist and opens negotiations; Ahmed and the people with him cannot work out what to demand and eventually ask for kebab. Wahid Hamed wrote the script, and the kebab is a deliberate emblem of people who no longer believe any demand of theirs could be met. It is among Adel Emam's most-watched films and is regularly named among the most popular Egyptian films ever made. Who it's for: viewers who want Arab cinema and satire aimed at bureaucracy. Who it's not for: anyone who will be uncomfortable seeing terrorism used as comic material.