Well, more like drunk. Is there a better way
to celebrate my coming home to Brooklyn than drinking cranberry and vodka on
the flight home? But hey, it has been a good while since I’ve consumed alcohol.
It’s just not a priority when you live in Egypt, a country as dry as its
dessert sands.
I will admit, I’m a lightweight. That’s
because I rarely drink. It only took one cup of the stuff to blur my already
blurry vision and make me giggle out loud while watching Aasal Iswid. Aasal Iswid is
an Egyptian comedy which translates as ‘Black Honey.’ It satirizes the oftentimes
repugnant ways in which Egyptians treat each other by juxtaposing it with the royal
treatment they often bestow upon foreigners. The protagonist is Egyptian actor
Ahmed Hilmy, who returns to Cairo to work as a photographer after living in the
United States for twenty years. Intent on ‘going native,’ Ahmed deliberately leaves
his American passport in the States and proudly identifies as Egyptian. The
film progresses by showing all the unnecessary travails he experienced because
of this. From taxi drivers to authorities to horses(!), no one treats Ahmed the
way he expects to be treated as a native of Egypt.
