I’ve been wanting to write an entry about this movie for a while but I haven’t gotten around to it. For our first snapshot assignment, we were supposed to watch an Arabic movie (without subtitles) to see how much we could learn about the movie simply from tones/expressions and body language.

First off, let me just say that the movie theatre (and whole mall complex) was freaking gorgeous. I probably couldn’t afford anything in the stores themselves so I satisfied myself with a mocha frappe from Starbucks (it was like being in heaven :3) and window-shopped until the movie began.

Once we were inside the theater, escorted to our nice, soft, red velvety seats (…what? in a movie theatre you say?) and the movie began, we realized that there was a moshkela kiteer (big problem): the movie had subtitles. While this put a giant roadblock in the path to completing our assignment, it was for the best in the end because I’m so glad I understood the movie and was able to appreciate it fully.

The movie was 678 (the number of a bus) and dealt with the issue of sexual harassment in public buses (and later, harassment in general) and how three very different women come together (in a way) and deal with it. There’s Fayza, the traditional, conservative wife who experiences harassment practically every day (which seemed a bit exaggerated at times) on the bus to her office, and this leads to a decline in her relationship with her husband, since she is turned off by all sexual activity. Then there’s Saba, who was assaulted many years ago and was shrugged off by her husband when she needed him most. Saba is more modern, but still holds the weight of her past experience and has started a class to educate women on how to deal with sexual harassment. Finally, there’s my favorite character Nelly, a modern woman who is a stand-up comedian (a bad one) and is in love with and engaged to a man who is also a stand-up comedian and supports her in all ways. When Nelly gets sexually harassed and wants to take the case to court, however, his family demands she drop the case to avoid bad publicity for the family’s reputation.

I won’t give away any more than this (because I’m going to naively assume that some of you may watch this movie based on my glowing recommendation :D. Which you really should do. Seriously.) but I will say that the way the movie was filmed, the plot, even the unexpected twists were all fantastic. It wasn’t perfect, of course; it seemed a bit unrealistic at points for one thing, but the positives outweigh the negatives a whole lot.

What I also liked about the movie was that it dealt with an issue that applies not just to Egyptian women and Egypt, but to many people in many places. Have you ever taken the 7 train? Or any crowded train on the NYC subway? Then you know what I’m talking about. While we may gasp at the things the women face in the 678 bus, we must not forget that we face similar things here and similarly, most of us don’t speak up either.

Here’s the trailer:

678 Trailer

There’s no subtitles, but you’ll get a feel for the movie. I don’t think it does full justice to the movie, though, so you should just listen to  my expert opinion and watch the movie. 🙂