I thought about the great work of the makeup artists when I saw the first shots of Beshay's face, one of the two main protagonists of the film by Egyptian director and screenwriter Abu Bakr Shawky. Only later did I begin to discover the details. The leprosy-deformed face and hands of Rady Gamal, who plays Beshay, sufficed for all the makeup efforts.
The director found his hero in one of the leper colonies. Due to his own experience with leprosy, non-actor Gamal comes across as authentic. He knows very well what it means to live as a person marginalized for his appearance. Although he is cured, people too often express fears of possible infection. Gamal is used to seeing disdainful looks, worries, and repulsion in others' eyes.
A safe environment for him is the leper colony where he has lived since his parents abandoned him as a child. He earns a living by scavenging anything useful from the local garbage dump, often accompanied by a ten-year-old orphan boy nicknamed Obama. The director also found his representative, Ahmed Abdelhafiz, among the local kids.
After the death of his wife, the forty-something Beshay sets off on a journey to find his original family. They promised him they would come back for him once he was cured. It's been so many years, but the hazy memory of his family living in the city of Qena never faded. He doesn't know how he'll get there, but that doesn't matter. He will ask for directions. He loads everything he owns onto a small cart pulled by his donkey, Harby. And under no circumstances does he want to take Obama with him. He doesn’t believe he can take care of the boy along the way.
This poignant road movie repeatedly echoes themes familiar from the genre. Thus, the audience is not surprised at who the stowaway is, or that Beshay discovers Obama cleverly hidden in the cart only when it is too late to send him back to the orphanage alone. Along the way, they experience many adventures, misfortunes, but also moving encounters and help from those they least expect. They find the safest environment among similarly marginalized individuals. The threat of ending up under the bridge proves to be completely empty, as they found shelter there.
Yomeddine means Judgment Day in Arabic. For Beshay, however, it is not a day to be feared, but a hope that on this day all people will be equal. Animals go straight to paradise, as is echoed in one of the heartrending scenes. During his journey, Beshay loses many things to ultimately find himself. His place, an environment where he can feel accepted, and he questions again where his home really is. As a Christian, however, Beshay is not subjected to mockery in a predominantly Muslim country as much; some foolish remarks arise more from a lack of human respect. The director, on the other hand, shows that faith unites. If people truly believe in God.
The director himself says that his mother is a Southern Austrian Catholic and his father an Egyptian Muslim. From them, he learned that it is important to engage in a dialogue that stems from differences and finds ways for all of us to connect. But only if we are able to maintain respect for personal freedom. What can divide, wound, and hurt is rejection, contempt, and the selfishness that Beshay encounters. “But I am a human being,” Beshay responds in a compelling reminder that he, too, deserves human dignity. The determined look in his eyes is something the audience cannot easily forget. He is a symbol of hope that even many obstacles cannot prevent courage from embarking on a journey.
The story also captivated the jury at Cannes. The film was selected for the main competition in 2018 and was awarded the François Chalais Prize.
Marie Kolářová