Here's the movie I'd mentioned "based", rather broadly, on the book we're reading for November.
I must warn everyone that though it's quite a "cine de barrio" version of Naguib Mahfouz' classic, it does help to lend perspective to this incredible book.
I'm also adding a review of the book to help you enjoy it as much as I did.
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The title, Adrift on the Nile, certainly describes the lives of the characters that populate it, especially civil servant Anis Zaki. They are adrift in an Egypt that allows only limited outlets -- political, cultural, sexual -- refusing (or unable) to take anything too seriously. And for most of the novel they are literally adrift on the Nile, as much of the action (or inaction) takes place aboard Anis' houseboat.
They talk, they smoke kif (hashish) from a water pipe, and Anis' friends use the houseboat for more intimate socialising as well. It is a permissive island, a sort of get-away from real life -- though Anis, in particular, is unable to escape. He also doesn't appear to be very good at his job, but doesn't have the creative (or romantic) instincts of his friends that make them appear freer and happier.
Much of the novel is in the form of dialogue, a mix of flirting and philosophising -- some of it surprisingly risqué (at least to readers accustomed to a stricter picture of Islamic culture). A new member of the group, a young journalist, Samara Bahgat, adds to the mix. After she has participated in several of their evenings Anis finds a notebook of hers in which she has outlined a scenario for a play, including descriptions of the various figures in it -- modeled closely on the houseboat revelers; the scenario and descriptions are reproduced in full, taking up almost an entire chapter. It is very much their story, a variation on the theme of the novel itself, guided by "the collapse of belief -- belief in anything."
The crisis comes when they decide to go on an expedition late at night, taking a car out for a drive. Catastrophe follows; instead of dealing with it, they flee -- and try to return to their relatively carefree lives.
Anis, in particular, has trouble dealing with it, and manages to get himself fired from his job. He insists the group should take responsibilty for what they wrought, but the others are less willing.
Adrift on the Nile is a dark look at a troubled society, the surface merriment and excess barely veiling the very fundamental faults in it. It's effectively presented, though the teasing banter can get to be a bit wearisome, and the book seems at times more sketch than novel. Certainly, Mahfouz displays his considerable range with this book, very different from many of his others, and bits are excellent. Of some interest, if not entirely a success.
