Land of Fear

My friend's recommendations never fail. He recommended the movie Ard elKhof three years ago, and since then I tried to see it a few times, but for different reasons, weren't able to get it. Finally, I just finished watching it now.

Interesting times for me to see it now. A story of an undercover cop who lives a supposedly fake life for over 12 years as a drug dealer. The movie is a grade one human movie, full of symbolism that I'm still trying to figure them out. The cop's code name is Adam, sending his reports to the authorities to a recipient with code name Moussa. The post official who delivered the letters happens to be called Moussa as well, so when the recipients are not receiving the messages anymore, he decides that he'll meet Adam and explain what was happening, after reading the messages and not understanding them. Adam realizes that he's all alone, his messages have not been delivered, and no one knows the truth, there's no one to back him up, and the life he's been living as a criminal drug dealer is in fact his real life.

All along I couldn't help but see the evil in him motivating him rather than the good cause that he was supposedly working for. The good cause just helped him keep going and have a clear conscious.

During his life as a 'fake' drug dealer, what was keeping him going is his false belief that he was doing it for a good purpose, just like the real drug dealer, Me'allem Hodhod, would not hurt his cusomters by replacing his Marijuana business with the powder business which has five times as much return, constantly saying religious versus, but knowing deep down that what he was doing is wrong.

The woman that Adam married with his money and 'fake' identity is the woman that loved him, and the woman that didn't know his fake identity and which he had feelings for is the woman who couldn't stand him when he told her that he was a drug dealer, and couldn't tell her that he was doing it undercover. Yet at the end, when she knew he was an undercover and came back to him, he was longing for his old life in the land of fear.

Ahmed Zaki is good. He sure will be missed.