The Originals

After the success of The Blue Elephant, Marwan Hamed returned with this quirky, offbeat satire – the most atypical entry in his oeuvre. Samir is a middle-class banker leading a mundane family life. After he’s abruptly made redundant, he discovers he’s being watched by a shady group who have been recording his deepest, most intimate secrets.

The titular group is revealed to be a clandestine organisation whose members have appointed themselves as guardians of the nation – tireless eyes that ceaselessly surveil in the name of collective security. Once recruited, Samir (Maged El-Kidwani) gradually discerns that El-Asliyyin may not be what they purport to be. Paranoia, delusion and an existential confrontation with the futility of his own life destabilise his reality. 

An incisive satire on the rising culture of surveillance, the ennui of middle-class existence and the slipperiness of identity and free will, The Originals – based on an original screenplay by novelist Ahmed Mourad – showcases Hamed’s dexterity in weaving together folkloric motifs and contemporary social critique, resulting in his most philosophically probing work to date. 

– Joseph Fahim