Is This Egypt?

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New York

OK, so I've been back in the US since February 18.

And during that time ( besides getting my game back ) I have immersed myself with all things Middle East--and shown my grandson the picture( above ) of me on a camel--and watched his eyes get wider and wider. Just for the record he thought the pyramid behind me looked "bigger than the Empire State Building, Grammie."

In the two plus weeks, I've finished an Egyptian classic and several art films about life in the Middle East. The objective? Probably twofold: to remember my time in that otherworld; and to better understand the multilayered cultures I began to penetrate.Each piece of my research accomplished one of both of those goals.

Palace Walk by Nobel Prize winning Neguib Mafouz, is an epic tale of a conservative Muslim family in early 20th century Cairo at a time when Egypt was transforming from an occupied land of the often hated British. Mafouz, a well educated Egyptian who lived and wrote his fiction in the famous ( and exotic ) Kahn el Khalili bazaar, is still considered somewhat controversial because of his willingness to shine a light on the many inconsistencies that were hidden deep within the then closed Muslim society. For example, the family patriarch, a conservative father of five school age children, does not allow his wife, Amina, to leave the house along Palace Walk, nor are the two girls allowed to complete more than grammar school-and forbidden to be seen until they are promised in a pre-arranged marriage. However, Abbad has no problem at all leaving the family home every single night to join his friends and paramours in an evening of lovemaking and alcohol. Mafouz writes beautifully, his sentences ( translated with care ) complex like the Arabic language itself.

Kingdom of Heaven is a not-so-perfect time machine back to 12th century Jerusalem when the Crusaders were fighting holy wars ( or was it about power and money ? ) against the very real threat of Muslim control by Saladin, considered one of the bravest warriors in history. While Orlando Bloom seems to struggle acting the central role of hero, he plays out the role of the key Crusader destined to try to save Jerusalem for the Christians. So, the story had some flaws, but the scenery of old Jerusalem was familiar--I could almost imagine walking down the uneven cobblestones in the Old City, with its evocative smells and sounds. The battle portrayed actually happened about 100 years earlier, and the link between the hero and his father, Godfried, ( Liam Neeson ) is unsubstantiated. What WAS real, beyond the Old City, was the struggle, and the director's decision NOT to show Islam as the infidel. That's a start.

Yousef Chahine, the legendary Egyptian director, has a long and award winning film history. His 1970s film, Alexandria...Why? , is set in one of my favorite Egyptian spots right on the Meditteranean. The story, pretty autobiographical, chronicles a young, smart, sort of middle class Alexandrian teenager who wants to go to the US and study theater at the Pasadena Playhouse. It is, as the film shows so brilliantly, nearly impossible. There's a war going on, in fact Rommel is 200 Km away--and the British are thinking of retreating from this important port city; and money is scarce --it is, after all, war. The footage of the battles fought west of Alexandria by the Germans who were routed by the British at the famous battle of Kasserine Pass near the Libyan border makes the horrors of the Great War all too real. And Chahine contrasts the black and white scenes of everything blowing up to the west with color shots of downtown Alexandria's beaches with Egyptians enjoying the sun, the blue sea.

Finally, Agatha Christie deserved a look. Yes, you guessed it, Death on the Nile. My Nile trip wasn't on a boat as vintage as the film, but the scenery was just as beautiful. And, the film brought back all of the wonders of Egyptian antiquity--Luxor, Valley of the Kings an Queens, Aswan, and the finest jewel in the Egyptian crown, Abu Simbel, Rameses II's egomania writ large.

So, that's what I've been up to. Netflix is sending me several more Middle Eastern art films, I'm scheduled to attend a lecture at the Met on the Nubians ( and revisit the Tomb of Dendur ), and, I'm ready to begin reading Infidel by Ali, From Beirut to Jerusalem by Tom Friedman and Durell's Alexandria Quartet.

But, I have to admit, the image that brings me right back to the Middle East, is the picture above. It's that camel that instantly brings me back to that world. The camel didn't smell good, didn't have a sense of humor, didn't really seem to listen to me as we were ambling along Giza, Cheops in the background. But I certainly couldn't confuse the venue.

It was definitely not New York.
M.C.