Claudia Cardinale, born in Tunisia, in Goha (1958), starring Omar Sharif

Claudia Cardinale, born in La Goulette, Tunisia, had her first film role at the age of 20 in Guha (1958), starring Omar Sharif. The film was made in Tunisia, directed by Jacques Baratier. Claudia had a minor role as Amina. Cardinale was raised speaking Arabic, French and Sicilian, and she only learned Italian later, when she started appearing in Italian films. When I first learned about this film, I had hoped that it would show Claudia speaking Arabic, but alas, the film is in French.

Claudia Cardinale (middle) in Goha

Like many people of my age, I had seen Cardinale in several films (among them, The Pink Panther, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Fitzcarraldo), but never knew she was born in Tunisia. Until I saw Tunisian director Férid Boughedir's 1996 film, Summer in La Goulette, where Cardinale makes an appearance, as herself. The best treatment I know of the various European populations of Tunisia is Julia Clancy-Smith's magisterial Mediterraneans: North Africa and Europe in an Age of Migration, C. 1800-1900 (2010). Highly recommended.

kufiyaspotting: "Logan"

Logan, to open in March - 20th Century Fox 

 
I had actually seen the trailer for Logan in the movie theaters last week, but this scene flashed by so quickly that I don't think I noticed the kufiya. Today's New York Times has a short article by Michael Gold called "4 Trailers That Have Us Excited for 2017." One of the four trailers the article features is Logan, starring Hugh Jackman, and it's accompanied by this photo. In the trailer, this scene is to be found at 1:20. It appears, based on what I can deduce from the trailer, that the Logan character is being chased down, in the US, by military types. The kufiya on the soldier would appear to reflect that he had done service in Iraq or Afghanistan, where the wearing of kufiyas by soldiers has been quite common over the last 14 years, and I've documented several instances on this blog. I own a military issue kufiya, khaki colored, that is flame retardant, given to me by someone who served in Iraq.

Simsimiyya in Egyptian Popular Culture: El-Gizawy in "Fatat al-Mina (The Harbor Girl)"

In the very fine documentary Nuh el-Hamam (Wailing of the Doves), 2004, directed by Amir Ramsis, 2006), we learn that the Port Said singer and simsimiyya player El-Sayed Abdou Mahmoud, known as El-Gizawy, appears in the 1964 film, Fatat al-Mina' (The Harbor Girl), which is set in a village on the Suez Canal. (That's him on the left.)

He tells us that he worked as an ironer (mikwagi) and that he used to sing at parties in the street -- the traditional way that simsimiyya music, known as damma, was performed at the time. He says he was contacted by director Hossam el-Din Mustafa to appear in the film, which stars Farid Shawki, Mahmoud El-Meleigy, Nahed Sharif, and Nagwa Fouad. He says that he sings on two songs, but I can only find one. The song starts at about 31:45. Check it out.

When the group El Tanbura was formed in late 1988 under the leadership of Zakaria Ibrahim, el-Gizawy was one of the veteran artists recruited to join the project of reviving the Port Said musical tradition that seemed to be dying out. He appears as a singer on all four of the group's albums. Sayed Gizawy passed away in October 2015. Allah Yarhamu.

Coming soon: Gil Hochberg, "Visual Occupations: Violence and Visibility in a Conflict Zone"

UCLA Prof Gil Hochberg's book, Visual Occupations: Violence and Visibility in a Conflict Zone, is out soon (May 2015) from Duke University Press. I blurbed it, so I've read the manuscript, and it is terrific, an essential read.

Here is Ella Shohat's blurb:

"Focusing on the politics of visuality, Visual Occupations engages the Zionist narrative in its various scopic manifestations, while also offering close readings of a wide range of contemporary artistic representations of a conflictual zone. Through such key notions as concealment, surveillance, and witnessing, the book insightfully examines the uneven access to visual rights that divides Israelis and Palestinians. Throughout, Gil Z. Hochberg sharply accentuates the tensions between visibility and invisibility within a context of ongoing war and violence. Visual Occupations makes a vital and informed contribution to the growing field of Israel/Palestine visual culture studies." 

and mine:

"Gil Z. Hochberg's brilliant and lucidly written text provides a vivid analysis of the sharp limits on visibility in Palestine/Israel. The expulsions of Palestinians in 1948 are invisible in Israel, and yet they continue to haunt its citizens and mobilize Palestinian resistance. Palestinians under occupation are hyper-visible, as victims and militants, and they seek both non-spectacular images and a measure of opacity. Through her critical readings of an array of Palestinian and Israeli artistic works, Hochberg offers other ways of looking and being seen, in this vastly unequal field of visibility."

and Duke Press' description:

"In Visual Occupations Gil Z. Hochberg shows how the Israeli Occupation of Palestine is driven by the unequal access to visual rights, or the right to control what can be seen, how, and from which position. Israel maintains this unequal balance by erasing the history and denying the existence of Palestinians, and by carefully concealing its own militarization. Israeli surveillance of Palestinians, combined with the militarized gaze of Israeli soldiers at places like roadside checkpoints, also serve as tools of dominance. Hochberg analyzes various works by Palestinian and Israeli artists, among them Elia Suleiman, Rula Halawani, Sharif Waked, Ari Folman, and Larry Abramson, whose films, art, and photography challenge the inequity of visual rights by altering, queering, and manipulating dominant modes of representing the conflict. These artists' creation of new ways of seeing—such as the refusal of Palestinian filmmakers and photographers to show Palestinian suffering, or the Israeli artists' exposure of state manipulated Israeli blindness—offers a crucial gateway, Hochberg suggests, for overcoming and undoing Israel's militarized dominance and political oppression of Palestinians."

More on 'Traitors': #women #punk #Morocco

Back in March I posted about the film Traitors, which deals with Moroccan women punkers. (And which I have not yet seen. I've since came across a couple more interesting sources.

1. An article about the film's star, Chaimae Ben Acha, in Brownbook.

Chaimae plays Malika, leader of an all-girl punk band in Tangier (she's in white in the photo below).

Ben Acha’s preparation for the role required her to cut her hair like Joan Jett, enrol in singing lessons and wear combat boots while off-set so as to acquire a rebellious strut. She admits that prior to the filming of ‘Traitors’, she had ‘nothing to do’ with rock music. ‘To sing rock ’n’ roll, you have to be hard-edged. It’s not feminine,’ she says.

2. And, another preview. Music sounds great. Can't wait to see it.

TRAITORS - Bande Annonce MAROC [2:19] from Thin Man on Vimeo.

Kufiya (or, Palestinasjal) in today's Sunday New York Times

In the special Summer Movies section of the Arts & Style part of today's New York Times (May 4, 2015), there is an article, "New Faces Bringing the Heat in Summer Movies" which features this photo.

From left, Liv LeMoyne, Mira Barkhammar and Mira Grosin. Credit Magnolia Pictures 

These are the stars of a new Swedish movie, Lukas Moodysson’s We Are the Best! It's about three non-conformist 13-year-old Stockholm girls who start a punk band. The girl who wears the kufiya is described as follows: "The electric Ms. Grosin’s Klara seems born to be a frontwoman, driving scenes forward with her bravado."

I've mentioned before that the kufiya is so ubiquitous in Sweden that it is simply called a Palestinasjal or Palestinian scarf. 

There was even a flap in Sweden last summer when an Iraqi refugee gave Sweden's king and queen a couple kufiya scarves that he had made himself and asked them to pose for a photo wearing them. Unbeknownst to the royal pair, the scarves also had the slogan inscribed on them, "Al Aqsa is ours and is not their temple."

The film "Traitors": women, punk, Morocco

Traitors (dir. Sean Gullette) has been on the festival circuit for a couple years. It looks, based on the reviews and the available trailers, to be a good one. I was alerted to it by Joobin Bekhrad's review in REORIENT, which also features one of the trailers. The latter features the lead, Malika, and her all-female Moroccan punk band doing a version of The Clash's "I'm So Bored with the USA," in Arabic, but with the chorus, "I'm so bored with Mo-ro-cco" sung in English.

Among other things, Bekhrad writes, "Gullette’s film appears to be one centred around the power and allure of rock music, particularly in a North African context; however, as it progresses, it also comes to provide a powerful social commentary on the current generation of Morocco’s youth and their hopes, aspirations, frustrations, dilemmas, and anxieties, evoking at times a mood similar to that prevalent in earlier films such as Fatih Akin’s Head On..." If it's anything like Head On I it should be worth watching. We can only hope.

(I liked Bekhrad's review but it was marred by a move that everyone writing in English about Middle Eastern pop music seems to make, which is "clever" puns. A couple examples: "stuck between Maroc and a hard place" and "Maroc and roll, baby." Er, enough.)

Here's another clip from the film:

And some more info:

"Features original songs sung by its riveting star Chaimae Ben Acha [who plays Malika, the leader of a Tangier punk band], and new music from much-hyped all-female bands Savages and Talk Normal." (I've not been able to find any of their music, however.)

Here's an interview with the director, published in Variety. Where we learn, among other things, that the film was funded with a grant from the Sharjah Art Foundation.

And, a review in The Hollywood Reporter, quite positive.

Leila Mourad's brother Mounir: another Egyptian Jewish artist

I recently learned that the great Egyptian singer and actress Leila Mourad's brother Mounir Mourad was also a prominent showbiz figure in Egypt, a singer, actor, and composer.

Son of the great Egyptian Jewish singer and composer Ibrahim Zaki Mordechai (known as Zaki Mourad), Mounir was known for, among other things, his efforts to incorporate jazz music into Egyptian popular music.

He wrote the music for one of Shadia's big hits, "Wahed, Etneen" (One, Two), which you should check out. The Hawaiian guitar at the end of the song is just perfect.

Like his sister Leila, Mounir converted to Islam after he married. His wife was the actress Soheir El Bably.

But unlike Leila, it seems that Mounir was not accused of relations with Israel, and so he remained active as an artist at least into the 1960's. His film appearances are quite delightful, and I've found several on youtube. They show him doing fare that is somewhat more "modern" (not sure how else to put it) than that done by his sister, and would seem to put him on the avant-garde side in the Egyptian popular music scene.

Check out this jazzy number, "Ayna Tadhhab Hadha al-Masa'" (Where are you going this evening?) from the 1955 film Appointment with Satan (موعد مع ابليس), which features Mounir on vocals (and he co-wrote the music with Mahmoud El-Sherif).

This is another delightful one, "Isti‘rad al-Batta" (Duck Review -- not really sure how to translate this), from the film Bint al-Hitta (Local Girl, 1964), with Mounir on vocals (and he composed the music). It's also notable for the dancing of the divine, inimitable Samia Gamal.

This long number is really a scream. It's called "Skatch al-Kura (Ya Hadarat al-Mustama‘in)" or Football Sketch (O Distinguished Listeners), sung by Mounir, and again, his composition, and one showing his equal facility with modern show tunes and traditional Egyptian mawwal. It's from the film Naharak Sa‘id (1955), and it's a marvelous musical production, beautifully filmed, by director Fatin Abdel Wahab, who later married Mounir's sister Leila (I'm not sure which year, but definitely after this film was made.

According to the wikipedia article about Mounir Mourad, he wrote the music hits not just for Shadia, but several for Abdel Halim Hafez (including the great "Dahk wa La‘b") as well as hits for the likes of Warda, Muhammad Qandil, Hani Shaker and others.

Finally, download a zany instrumental with insane Farfisa, called "The Factory Theme," here.

misc. kufiyas: Paul Robeson in "Jericho" (1937) (+ Princess Kouka)

Robeson as Jericho, Princess Kouka as Gara



I've not yet seen it, a friend (Bob) just recommended it to me. It is supposed to be one of Robeson's best film roles. He plays a US GI who gets court-martialed, ends up in North Africa, hooks up with the Touareg, marries into the tribe, marries a Touareg woman, and becomes their leader. And leads them to victory. Can't wait to see it, it's coming soon via Netflix. Bob says that the exteriors were shot in Cairo and that the crew was there a month and that Robeson was looking forward to making another movie with Umm Kalthoum.

Meanwhile, Princess Kouka, pictured above, is a well-known Egyptian actress, born Tahia Ibrahim Bilal. Among other things, she appears in the wonderful 1955 film A Cigarette and a Glass (Sigara wa Ka's), starring Samia Gamal and Dalida. Kouka plays Azza. You can rent it from Netflix, and I highly recommend that you do so.

Here's a scene for the film. Kouka sings the title song while holding, yes, a cigarette and a glass. And Samia Gamal dances. Of course it's sublime.



Dalida also has a great, sultry singing scene in the film.

dangerous turbans: Iqbal Singh

Iqbal Singh does Elvis. "A Beautiful Baby of Broadway," from the 1960 Hindi film, Ek Phool Char Kaante.

Kufiyas and Straub & Huillet's "Moses and Aaron"

New Yorker Films

A review in the New York Times (February 2, 2012) of Straub and Huillet's 1975 film Moses and Aaron reminded me how common it has been for films to depict the biblical Hebrews as Bedouin. This film, however, is anything but what one youtube commenter calls a "sword n' sandals" epic, Hollywood style. The music is by Schoenberg, meaning it is in many ways the antithesis of Hollywood soundtracks.

And the Times reviewer, David Kehr, informs us that the directors "had come to prominence as the creators of a meticulously Marxist-materialist presentation of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, 'The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach' (1968), and the same systematic refusal of transcendence is at work here." And Kehr concludes, "more than ever 'Moses und Aron' seems like one of the monuments of 20th-century cinematic modernism..."

 And yet, those costumes still remind one of Hollywood representations, don't they?

Check out this scene from the film. Love the dancing in front of the golden calf.

 

dj/rupture - Sufi Plug Ins and Humphrey Davies

1. Via rupture's Mudd Up!, Sufi Plug Ins.

an interdisciplinary project dedicated to exploring non-western & poetic notions of sound in interaction with alternative interfaces...a suite of seven free audio tools for Ableton (Max for Live), including include four distinct synthesizers hardwired to North African & Arabic maqam scales with quartertone tuning built-in, a device called Devotion which lowers your computer’s volume 5 times a day during call to prayer (presets include Agnostic, Fervent, Devout), and a drone machine...as tools, Sufi Plug Ins are what you do with them. 

2. On May 16, rupture did a live radio show from Cairo, with guest host Humphrey Davies, one of the preeminent translators of texts from Arabic to English (such as Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun). The show opens with a divine track from Layla Murad, "Itmakhtari witmayli ya khayl (Strut and prance, Horses!)," from the 1949 film Ghazal al-Banat (which Davies translates as "Candy Floss").

Wayne Marshall (of the blog wayneandwax) tweeted about the show and the opening number: "when the cowbell comes in at 0:07 seconds here, it's so 'take me to the mardi gras' i jump out of my skin." Listen and jump out of your skin too. And be sure to stay tuned for the entire show.

Ghazal al-Banat, btw, is a fantastic, uproarious comedy. Someone has put the entire film up on youtube. (Sorry, no subtitles.) Check out this segment, which features an amazing number from Mohammed Abd-el Wahhab (starting at about 4:30), complete with a huge orchestra and chorus, an army of balalaikas, a division of clarinets, Abdel Wahhab on vocals and banjo...Wow. Ahhh, ya Masr.



And the song continues in this segment.

 

Tiariq Teguia's "Rome plutôt que vous"

I saw this film at Georgetown last week and I want to put in a very strong plug for it. It's not been released for the English-speaking market, so it's only available with French subtitles. It's a kind of road movie, with a very New Wave feel, telling the story of Zina and Kamal trying to find a guy who is going to supply Kamal with a fake passport, so he can migrate to Europe.

One of the the elements of the film that I was interested was in how rai music plays an important function, at key points in the film. The film rarely has a music soundtrack, it's quite bleak, sonically, just as is the urban and suburban environment, much of the time. Only once do we hear some rai music, while Zina and Kamal and Kamal's friend Merzak are caught overnight in a suburb of unfinished housing, and they take refuge with someone who works in a pizzeria kitchen. At one point, the worker puts some rai music on the cassette player, and they all engage in raucous dancing. It's a moment of very intense, and surprising, emotion in a film that is otherwise characterized for the most part by lassitude and waiting and frustrated searching. You can see a moment of the dancing, but without the music, at about 1:27 on the trailer below.

At another point, Kamal and Merzak (if I remember correctly) are talking and one of them recites a line or two of poetry. One says, that's Cheb Hasni. The other says, or maybe Rimbaud. Cheb Hasni is the much-beloved star of the rai sub-genre known as "love rai," who was assassinated in 1994 by the Armed Islamic Groups. (Probably. Although some say he was killed due to a dispute over money, by someone in the mafia-like syndicate of rai producers.)

At the end of the film, Kamal gets shot, as he and Zina drive away. We have no idea who did it or why and the violence comes out of the blue. Typical of life in Algeria, especially since the start of the civil war in 1992 and the unleashing of the shadowy forces of the pouvoir, the Algerian state, against the Islamist rebels. Kamal says to Zina (presumably he is badly wounded, although we can't see the wound), he hears Cheb Hasni. She calls him an idiot. The film ends.

There is much more to this film than the rai references, but given my interests, nay, obsession with rai, that's what I've discussed here. Again, I highly, highly recommend this film.

Kufiya'd Keira Knightley in 'Domino' (2005)

I'm surprised that none of my more avid movie-watching friends spotted this before me. Kiera Knightley plays Domino, a hard-assed bounty hunter in Domino (2005), alongside Mickey O'Rourke (who turns in a creditable performance as Ed) and Edgar Ramirez (as Choco). I found the film pretty enjoyable, although the effects, courtesy director Tony Scott, are sometimes too over-the-top for my tastes, and the plot makes little sense. (But neither for that matter did that of The Big Lebowski.)

Knightley as Domino appears garbed in the purple kufiya pictured here several times. I intend/hope in future to get hold of the DVD and take some photos of all the scenes (which occur at about 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour and 1:15, for those who need to know) when I have the chance. These shots were what I could pull off the web. Domino (the film is based very loosely on the real-life story of Domino Harvey, daughter of actor Laurence Harvey) as played by Knightley is a tough, reckless, gorgeous young woman who can handle guns and nunchucks (shown above) expertly and can tangle with the best of them. No doubt the kufiya, along with the leather jacket that she also wears frequently, is here to contribute to her tough-bitch image.

In terms of the history of kufiya craze in the West during the aughts, the appearance of the kufiya in Domino precedes, by just a bit, the full blown kufiya explosion of 2006-2007 (quite a bit of which was documented here, on hawgblawg).

As for the film, it received a lot of bad reviews. But the New York Times' Manohla Dargis rather liked it.

kufiyaspotting # I don't know how many: Big Boi (Outkast)

Atlanta rapper Big Boi, of Outkast, appearing in a preview for the forthcoming documentary from Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me), Pom Wonderful Presents the Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Why he appears in this furry kufiya, who knows. He probably did not get the idea from Ralph Nader, who also appears in the film. (Thanks to Wayne for the tip.)

Kufiyas as (desired) signifiers of danger for soldiers and other tough guys

Lately I've run across a spate of kufiyas that are quite distinct from the hipster, the solidarity or the designer kufiyas. Kufiyas worn by military (Modern Warfare 2) or counter-terrorist ops (From Paris With Love). By a visionary tough-guy post-apocalyptic wanderer (The Book of Eli). And by the leader of a group of soldier dragon-hunting volunteers--also post-apocalypse (Reign of Fire).

I wish I had the time and money to play the video game Modern Warfare 2, it looks like a really incredible game. Yes, it's all shoot-em-up, but just check it out if you doubt that it would be a hoot to play. The case for the game features a picture of a US military guy whose neck and face are wrapped with a kufiya. I didn't see much kufiya action when I looked at the game previews, but the case seems to indicate it is a significant clothing item for some of the principals. Or at least a marketing mechanism.

I've been told that the kufiya is standard wear for US Marines operating in Iraq. (As of today, they are out.) I hope to have a bit more data on current Marine usage soon. The kufiya was also adopted by US soldiers during the first Gulf War. Recall the character of Chief, played by Ice Cube, in the film The Three Kings--still the best film dealing with the 1990-91 war. (Photo source here.)

The kufiya is of course a handy item to have in the desert and sun, useful for shading oneself, keeping out the dust, achieving anonymity, etc. And it's handy in the cold evenings as well. No surprise then that the British military have used them since at least the Second World War--using the name shemagh.

But besides the utility of the kufiya, there is also the fact that, by wearing an item iconically associated with the "bad guys," the "hajjis," US soldiers may hope to capture and mobilize some of the danger associated with the enemy and his ability to plant IEDs, as well as perhaps to tame it.

That seems to be what is going on with the military contractor team leader in the film The Hurt Locker, played by Ralph Fiennes. His wildness and recklessness seems to be signalled by the fact that he, and the rest of his crew, are garbed in kufiyas. In fact, when the EOD unit led by Sergeant James first sights the contractors, they think they are "hajjis" (i.e., Iraqi insurgents). This is entirely due to the fact the kufiyas wrapped around their faces. (My earlier remarks on The Hurt Locker are here and here.)

The upcoming film, From Paris with Love, which opens on February 5, stars John Travolta as FBI agent Charlie Wax, whose mission it is to stop a threatened terrorist attack on Paris. From the trailer, it's clear that Agent Wax is another one of those cops or intelligent agents or soldiers so typical of Hollywood action movies, one who must use "unorthodox" methods--involving massive violence, machismo, over-the-top stunts, and borderline-insane schemes--to defeat the bad guys. Wax's signature shaved head, leather jacket, goatee and kufiya are all essential stylistic elements that combine to signal that he is Dirty Harry for the twenty-tens. Looking through the various trailers and publicity photos for the film, I found it hard to find a scene where Travolta/Wax wasn't in kufiya.

And then there is The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington as Eli, a wanderer through a post-apocalypse United States, who carries the Bible and is the master of all weapons. Although he is not always shown with a kufiya around his, he does wear it at many times, and so in this film too the kufiya functions as a sign of Eli's toughness.

I'm told that there is a key scene involving the exchange of a kufiya for water. (The US has been turned into a parched wasteland.) The film has received quite mixed reviews, but for the sake of research, I do intend to see it.

You can view the trailer for the film here, at the official website.

And here's another shot of the kufiya-garbed Eli:

And another image, from the cover of The Book of Eli comic book:

Finally, there is the 2002 film Reign of Fire, and the character of Denton Van Zan played by Matthew McConaughey. The year is 2020. Dragons have been brought to life, out of hibernation. They multiply and burn much of the earth. Humans respond with nukes, and the planet is virtually wiped out.

A band of heavily-armed volunteers from the US, led by Van Zan, arrives in England to aid a small group of survivors, headed by Quinn (Christian Bale). Van Zan is super-tough and battle-hardened, a true warrior. He has the attitude and demeanor of a Marine officer. He is bald, fully bearded, and his body is loaded with tattoos. And he is frequently seen wearing kufiya. Like the bald pate and the tattoos, the kufiya is key to Van Zan's fierce, uncompromising, wild-man persona.

Below we see Van Zan in conversation with Alex (played by Izabella Scorupco), who is part of his military team.

Van Zan, true to his image, dies after the explosive charge he shoots at the dragon with his crossbow fails to kill the beast. Van Zan jumps off the high tower he is on, in a vain attempt to slay the dragon with a battle axe. He is bare-chested, showing off all his tattoos, having thrown off his sleeveless jacket and kufiya. His wild, suicidal yet noble gesture leads to his death. Alex and Quinn kill off the dragon and survive to re-establish human civilization.

Like all such wild men who break taboos and regulations and the rules of civilized behavior (the Geneva Conventions, for instance) to defend "us" against the terroristic enemy, Van Zan is not able to be domesticated. In such cases, the kufiya seems to function not just as a kind of talisman of the opponent, that lends potency to the action hero by a kind of sympathetic magic, but it seems to signify as well that he cannot be really assimilated comfortably into the society which he defends. Like Van Zan, the military contractor of The Hurt Locker played by Ralph Fiennes is killed, by the Iraqi insurgents. The character of Sgt. James, who also wears kufiya in the film--although it's a khaki one, and hence more subdued kufiya than the contractor's hajji-looking black-and-white checked shemagh. Nonetheless, at the end of the film, James is unable to re-enter civilian life. It's just too dull and lacking in adrenaline rushes. He re-ups for another tour of "explosive ordinance disposal."

I hope I'm not giving anything away when I tell you that Eli dies at the end of The Book of Eli. [P.S., May 15, 2011: Elyse just informed me that Eli wears a white galabiyya in the last scene. I didn't remember that. He dies as a kind of devout Muslim???] And we can guess, based on our experience with all the Dirty Harrys and the John McClanes (Die Hard series) and the Martin Riggs' (Lethal Weapon series), that Agent Wax does not get happily married and go off to live peacefully in the suburbs, at the end of From Paris with Love.

Kufiyas are all over "The Hurt Locker"

To my great regret, The Hurt Locker has not yet opened here. Maybe, if NW Arkansas fans of Kathryn Bigelow are lucky, it will open later this month. Carolina, who is fortunate enough to live in NYC, has already seen it, and informed me that she spotted what looked like a kufiya on one of the characters. This prompted me, naturally, to get on the case, and a search of publicity stills turned up a number of kufiyas. Here's one of Ralph Fiennes as Contractor Team Leader.

Copyright © Summit Entertainment

and another:

Copyright © Summit Entertainment

There is of course, a long tradition, of Western fighters in the Middle East putting on kufiya. The guards of the early Zionist colonies and TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), for instance. Kufiyas were part of the uniform issued to British forces posted throughout the Middle East after the First World War, and called shemaghs. And here's what wikipedia says about their current use by US forces in the Middle East:

Since the beginning of the War on Terror, these keffiyeh, usually cotton and in military olive drab or khaki with black stitching, have been adopted by US troops as well. Their practicality in an arid environment, as in Iraq, explains their enduring popularity with soldiers. Soldiers often wear the keffiyeh folded in half into a triangle and wrapped around the face, with the halfway point being placed over the mouth and nose, sometimes coupled with goggles, to keep sand out of the face. This is also commonly done by armored, mechanised and other vehicle-borne troops who use it as a scarf in temperate climates to ward off wind chill caused by being in moving vehicles. British soldiers deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan are now issued with a tan-colored shemagh.

The wikipedia entry captures the material practicality of the kufiya, but misses its symbolism. The fact that the kufiya is associated with the "terrorists," with the "bad guys," is also a key element of its attraction. Wearing it seems to capture, in some way, the "evil" power associated with the enemy.

But what about this publicity still, which shows director Kathryn Bigelow and an unidentified assistant in kufiyas? (See kufiyaspotting #48.) Bigelow's is a "local" kufiya, but her assistant's is in "hipster" colors. Mixed messages...Associating with the soldiers...with the locals...with the US hipsters...

Copyright © Summit Entertainment

Elia Suleiman's movie, "The Time That Remains": released in August

Here's a trailer for The Time That Remains, the latest film from highly-regarded Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman. It opens in France on August 12, after screening as an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival in May. God knows if and when it will open in the US.



Here is a catalog of some reviews from US sources, the majority very favorable. David Hudson calls it a "deadpan Palestinian comedy," which sounds about right, based on my familiarity with Suleiman's previous work. (Thanks to Kamran for alerting me to the trailer.)

Kufiyaspotting #48: Kathryn Bigelow

Jonathan Olley/Summit Entertainment

I'm pretty excited to see this photo of director Kathryn Bigelow, kufiya clad, in the New York Times, June 21. It's from a great article by Manohla Dargis, on the occasion of the release of Bigelow's latest film, The Hurt Locker. I can't wait to see it. I'm a huge fan of Bigelow's Near Dark, Blue Steel, Point Break and Strange Days. It's wonderful to read a review that treats Bigelow with the respect she deserves, and that calls her a "great filmmaker." (Plus, the review mentions the fact that Bigelow appears in the film, Born in Flames, the subject of a previous kufiyaspotting.)

UPDATE: I should have thanked Therese for alerting me to this on Saturday evening. Otherwise I wouldn't have known about it until Sunday morning, when my Times arrives.

The stylish kufiya in "Iron Man"

I finally got around to watching this thoroughly enjoyable film last night, and even though its liberal political turns are somewhat hokey and predictable, I appreciated (a) Tony Stark's "moral" decision to turn away from war profiteering and (b) that the film represented the Afghani "bad guys" as being in cahoots with US weapons producers. I suppose the latter represents a kind of backhanded acknowledgment of the CIA's role in helping create and strengthen those "bad guys" during the struggle of the Afghani mujahideen against the Soviet occupation.


But here's one thing I didn't like, seriously. The real "bad guy" of the film, Raza (played by Faran Tahir), who leads the terrorist group, wears a kufiya around his neck. And not only does he wear it in the manner of the Western hipster--more typically in Afghanistan it would be worn it as a turban--but the colors are straight out of...Urban Outfitters. It's tan. But it should (if verismilitude is the aim) be black-and-white, or maybe red-and-white.

So, Iron Man manages not only to associate just kufiyas with terrorists, but hipster kufiyas as well.

The semiotic war continues....