A few days after its release on Netflix, ‘Ashab Wala A’az’ (Perfect Strangers) creates a wave of controversy on social media between pro and against. The Netflix first-ever Arabic original film is an adaptation of an Italian film that had other 18 remakes one of which is French, ‘Le Jeu’, and also available on Netflix.
So what’s the deal here?
With no spoilers and in a nutshell, the film revolves around 7 friends who meet over dinner and decide to play a game of sharing every message and call they receive in public. The game takes a tragic turn of events where their phones unveil a lot of secrets that they never meant to share. The entire storyline unfolds at a house in Lebanon, the language is bold and daring but also real and natural, and the friends who thought they knew each other too well discover a dark side in one another as the night carries on with all the secrets it brings to surface.
Why were so many people provoked?
A lot of people found the film morally degrading and inappropriate for the values of Egyptian societies and families from the language to the storyline and ideas it tackles. Also, those against the film believed that the culture of the west can’t be applied to the east, hence an Italian film can't be adapted into an Arabic version.
But, there was another party pro the film finding it telling stories from the reality we live today and experienced by people around us. From their point of view, the film mirrored real societal issues and tackled several taboo topics that the society denies its existence and hates talking about, and that’s why it was harshly criticized.
In conclusion, we are not aiming to direct you to one point of view versus the other. So whether realistic or morally degrading? This you have to decide for yourself with complete honesty and no bias.
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