Drugs represent great harm that threatens our society, so Egyptian cinema presented many films that revolved around gangs, drug dealers, and addiction to reduce this phenomenon and find an appropriate solution. But, unfortunately, some voices have accused such films of helping spread the phenomenon of addiction and causing some young people and adolescents to resort to drinking drugs in search of false pleasure, the effects of which last for a few hours, while the damages extend for years. In the following lines, we will review with you a group of the most prominent films that discussed the drug trade and what happens to its users.
Samara 1956
The dancer Samara works in the drug trade with her husband, Sultan. While the police are trying to trap them, they insert officer Fouad Hussein in their midst as the fugitive criminal Sayed Abu Shafa. Feelings of love develop between Samara and the officer, and when she discovers the truth about him and accuses him of cheating on her, he assures her that he loves her and wants to marry her after her husband’s arrest. The police chase Sultan, but he manages to escape and return to his home to die, but before his death, he shoots, injures Samara, and dies in front of the officer she loved. The film stars Tahia Karioka, Mohsen Sarhan and Mahmoud Ismail. It was written by Mahmoud Ismail and directed by Hassan El Seifi.
Oh Mercy from God 1976
Naima, a young lawyer, lives with her mother, a butcher’s teacher, in the Al-Madbah neighborhood. Master “Zaki Kidra” was bringing drugs from outside into the camels’ guts. Officer Ahmed Fahmy seeks to gather the information that will enable him to arrest a drug dealer in the area. Still, he collides with Naima, who prevents him from using force to extract the information. The officer and “Naima” fall in love and decide to marry. Yet, his aristocratic mother refuses because of the social difference. The officer goes to the place where the drugs are hidden and is surprised by “Umm Naima,” who is the gang leader. She had decided to repent and liquidate the gang and end her relationship with drugs. Still, time did not help her, and she was arrested. When “Naima” discovers the truth about her mother, she claims that she is the gang leader, especially after her mother suffers from aphasia. The film stars Sana Gameel, Suheir Al Morshedy, Hussein Fahmy, and Adel Adham. It is written by Mohamed Othman and directed by Hossam El-Din Mostafa.
Shame 1982
The spice shop trader Hajj “Abdel-Tawab” secretly deals in drugs with the help of his eldest son “Kamal.” Abdel-Tawab sells all his possessions and takes out a loan from the bank to collect one million pounds in a new drug deal. Unfortunately, Abdel-Tawab and his assistants died in an accident before receiving the shipment. Kamal takes his father’s place and seeks to complete the deal, and is forced to tell his family the truth about his father’s drug trade. Kamal asks his two brothers, “Shukri” and “Adel,” to help him receive the shipment from the sea and store it in cans inside the saline water until it is sold and paid for. Fearing poverty, the two brothers agree, but when the drugs are retrieved from the plates, they discover they have stored them the wrong way, as the saltwater dissolved the metal and the drugs sank. This led to the suicide of “Shukri” and the injury of “Adel” to madness, amidst “Kamal” crying out in grief over the loss of his life. The film stars Nour El Sherif, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz and Hussein Fahmy. It was written by Mahmoud Abu Zeid, and directed by Ali Abdel Khaleq.
The Addict 1983
Engineer Khaled suffers a car accident, in which he loses his wife and son. The husband narrowly escapes death but is hospitalized for a long time. As a result of his physical pain resulting from the accident and psychological pain due to his feeling of guilt about losing his family, “Khaled” is treated with morphine injections, which he was addicted to. When the hospital stopped his treatment, he fled to buy morphine. Khaled is caught inside a drug den, and Dr. Ahmed Halim treats him at his psychiatric hospital. The doctor’s daughter, Leila, insists on helping to treat Khaled as an old friend despite her father’s disapproval.
Meanwhile, a love story develops between them. After Khaled recovers from addiction, Leila takes him on a trip to the same place that reminds him of his wife, son, and the old accident so that he can face reality, overcome his sense of guilt, and move on with his life again. The film is starring Ahmed Zaki and Najwa Ibrahim and is written and directed by Youssef Francis.
Getting High 1985
Salah Abu al-Azm works in a government company after obtaining a doctorate in sciences. As for his younger brother, Jamal Abu al-Azm, he failed in his studies and became a popular singer, and became addicted to drugs as he dealt in them. Salah tries to convince his brother to quit drugs by making a mixture of herbs that are not harmful to health, similar in color, shape and smell to cannabis. Gamal and his friends are fooled by the hashish they admire, only to be surprised that it is not real. Gamal took advantage of his brother’s need for money and persuaded him to provide a national service to people by protecting them from drug harm by selling his own mixture. The drug dealer, “Salim Al-Bahz”, discovered the truth of the mixture, but he was able to turn it into drugs by grinding it with hallucinogenic pills. Jamal” about drugs, to turn the verse between the two brothers. The film stars Yahya El Fakharani, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, and Jamil Ratib. It was written by Mahmoud Abu Zeid, and directed by Ali Abdel Khaleq.
The tiger and the beauty 1987
Wahid a police officer is assigned to infiltrate the drug dealer Abdo Al-Nash’s gang. When he discovers that “Yasmine”, the daughter of “Al-Qamash”, has been missing for many years, he uses “Naima” and her son, “Tamer” to impersonate “Yasmine” and presents Wahid as her husband. Al-Kamash is deceived, but his sister Adalat doubts the matter, discovers the truth, and decides to take revenge on Wahid by planting drugs for him in coffee until he becomes addicted. Al-Qamash” plotted an accident to kill them, but they miraculously survived, and “Waheed” disappears until he recovers from his addiction. Because of Al-Qamash’s belief that Wahid died in the accident, he carried out the smuggling operation with confidence, until Wahid appeared and caught the gang in flagrante delicto. The film stars Adel Imam, Athar Al-Hakim, Anwar Ismail, and Aida Abdel Aziz. It is written by Ibrahim Al-Mougi, and directed by Sami Seif.
The Emperor 1990
Young man “Zeinhom” flees from Upper Egypt to Cairo in search of a job, and gets involved in the world of drug dealing with his friend “Ibrahim”. Zeinhom grows up in the drug trade to become the most dominant dealer in the market after getting rid of his first drug dealer. Zeinhom falls into the trap of addiction and begins to get rid of everyone who stands in his way, even killing his best friend, because he suspects his wife is cheating on him. The film stars Ahmed Zaki, Mahmoud Hamida and Raghda. It is written by Fayez Ghaly, and directed by Tariq Al-Arian.
The Wasted 1991
The police discover the body of a young man named “Samir”, whose body was found by his wife, “Esaad”, in the Nile, while the night girl “Nadia Bijou” confirmed to the police that he was her lover. She admitted that she and a group of others were the cause of what happened to “Samir”, as they gathered together to smoke hashish in a raft on the Nile, and as a kind of entertainment they suggest that each of them tells his story with drugs and what led him to this path. And when it was Samir’s turn, he refused to take hashish, so they gave him a heroin ticket until he lost consciousness, and because they were under the influence of drugs, they threw him in the Nile until he overpowered by water, but they killed him. The film stars Laila Elwy, Mahmoud Hamida, Hassan Hosni, and Najah El Mogy. It is written by Wahid Hamid and directed by Hussein Kamal.
Land of Fear 2000
Officer “Yahya Al-Manqawi” is assigned a dangerous mission called “Land of Fear”. He is asked to plunge into the world of drug dealing to become a real criminal, collecting all the secrets and details in classified reports and mailing them. Under the plan, he is formally dismissed from the police force and imprisoned for bribery. To secure him, an official document is signed by the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Justice stating that Yahya is on an official mission and absolves him of any crime he may commit, and the documents are deposited in a bank. Yahya plunges for years into the world of crime and drug dealing, only to discover that the officer who assigned him to the mission has died, and that the reports he has been sending for years have reached the wrong person. “Yahya” suffers from the conflict between his old and new life, and because of the police’s tightening of the siege around him and their efforts to arrest him, he reveals his mission to his rival, the officer “Omar Al-Asyouti” who refuses to believe him and insists on arresting him. The film stars Ahmed Zaki, Mahmoud Hamida and Raghda. It is written and directed by Daoud Abdel Sayed.
Al Jazeera 2007
Ali Hefny summons his son, Mansour, to become the chief of the island and take over the drug trade after him. Because of this, enmity arises between the largest families of the island. Mansour marries Faika, the daughter of Al-Rahima, despite his love for Karima, the daughter of Al-Najaiha, who attacked Ali Al-Hafni’s condolences and killed Mansour’s mother and his wife, who gave her baby to Karima, fearing for his life. Mansour continues the drug trade and travels to Sudan to buy an arms deal. All this in agreement with the police officer “Rushdi”, who facilitated the sale of drugs and weapons to him, in exchange for handing over the terrorists hiding on the island. Mansour avenges Al-Najaiha and regains his son from Karima. He declares his control of the island, but is arrested after the Ministry of Interior sends a new officer named Tariq, who could not agree with Mansour. The film stars Ahmed El-Sakka, Hend Sabry, Khaled El-Sawy and Mahmoud Abdel-Mughni. It is written by Mohamed Diab, and directed by Sherif Arafa.
Replacement 2009
Destiny separated the twin brothers “Nabil” and “Fares” when they were young. The first was adopted by the dancer “Qamar” and raised with her in nightclubs and drugs. He has a relationship with the addicted girl “May”, the daughter of drug dealer “Ezzat Al-Hinawi”, who is pregnant with him and is trying to abort the fetus. As for “Fares”, the family of officer “Mohsen” adopted him and raised him well until he graduated from the Police College, and was assigned to arrest the drug gang. Meanwhile, Nabil distributes drugs with Ezzat’s assistant, Khadash, and accidentally kills his brother’s wife. When Khadash discovers the similarities between the two brothers, he tries to switch them so he can use the officer’s power to pass the drug deal. Meanwhile, Faris manages to save Mai from death and keeps the fetus. The conflict between the police and the drug gang takes place and Nabil is killed. Fares decides to impersonate Nabil and claims Faris’s death, because he is the only witness in the case. He marries “May” and attributes the child to him as a “noble” so that his nephew does not live without a father. The film stars Ahmed Ezz, Menna Shalaby, and Mohamed Lotfy. It is written by Mohamed Diab and directed by Ahmed Alaa.
Dealer 2010
Animosity arose between Youssef Al-Sheikh and Ali Al-Halawani since childhood, as they compete for the love of Samah, who agreed to marry Ali and traveled with him to Ukraine. While “Youssef” deals in drugs and is arrested, and after his release from prison he travels to Turkey and continues to trade drugs and discovers a new way to smuggle them without being detected by the police dogs. “Youssef” travels with the goods to Ukraine, and meets “Samah” by chance to find her addicted to drugs, and she worked as a dancer in a nightclub after Ali divorced her and took their son Mustafa from her, and he became a major arms and drug dealer. Youssef marries Samah and gets pregnant with him. He seeks revenge on Ali by getting close to his partner, Bertlev, who discovered Ali’s deception and kidnapped his son Mustafa to control him. And after “Ali” is sure that his end is near, he gives his son “Mustafa” to “Youssef” to take care of him. Youssef returns to Samah, who died during childbirth, so he takes the newborn and Mustafa and returns to Egypt. The film stars Ahmed El-Sakka, Khaled El-Nabawy, and Mai Selim. The film was written by Medhat Al-Adl, and directed by Ahmed Saleh.
Al Maslaha 2012
The officer “Yahya Abu Al-Ezz” is killed by the reckless young man “Suleiman Al-Muslimi”. Officer Hamza Abul-Ezz requests his transfer to the Drug Enforcement Administration, hoping to catch the killer and avenge his brother. Salem Al-Muslimi, a drug dealer, smuggles his brother Suleiman after he is sentenced to death. Hamza monitors Salem until he is arrested while receiving the new drug shipment, but discovers that drug supplier Ammar has been able to monitor the officers’ wireless devices, so he deceives them by using newer devices to exchange real information, while he uses the old devices to deceive Ammar. To reveal the cache of drugs and the whereabouts of “Solomon”. Salem rushes to get his brother out of the hideout, but he falls into the ambush set by Hamza, and gets caught in the act. Hamza kills Suleiman. The film ends with the drug dealer and the police officer being prosecuted, the first for drug trafficking, and the second for trespassing in the performance of his job for personal reasons. The film stars Ahmed El Sakka and Ahmed Ezz. It is written by Wael Abdullah, and directed by Sandra Nashaat.
Blue Elephant 2014
The psychiatrist “Yahya Rashid” left his job at Abbasiya Hospital, and became addicted to drugs and alcohol after he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. After 5 years, he is called to work in the ward of patients arrested for criminal offenses. There, he is surprised by the involvement of his old friend and classmate “Sharif Al-Kurdi” in the murder of his pregnant wife after raping her. He is asked to submit a medical report on the mental state of the accused. During his case study, “Sharif” takes blue elephant pills, which contain the narcotic substance MTM, and gets lost in another world, and discovers with time that a jinn named “Nael” is wearing “Sharif” and controlling his actions. In this imaginary world, which he cannot enter without the drug, “Yahya” learns more about the history of this genie and the way to overcome it, and eventually manages to get it out of Sharif’s body. The film stars Karim Abdel Aziz, Khaled El Sawy and Nelly Karim. It is written by Ahmed Murad, and directed by Marwan Hamed.