Hamada Hilal Knocks You Out

This week, I got a chance to see Fighter, boxing drama movie based on true story. Needless to say, I thought to movie was all around great. So I thought about an Arabic movie I saw two summers ago about a boxing champ. Hilm El Omr "7ilm El 3omr", a dream of a lifetime. The movie was the starring of Hamada Hilal, the Egyptian singer turned actor. Unlike other Arabic boxing films, this one was a winner. There has been a number of Arab movies about boxing, most were good stories, but poor execution and terrible filming.

Hilm El Omr was different in so many ways. Hamada took his time beefing up his body for the role, he worked out for months to prepare for the role. He has also shown some of the greatest on screen performances in modern day Arab cinema. He was very believable and seemed like a fighter who has nothing to lose and everything to gain. The supporting cast did a fine job (the families spiced the movie) and the other boxers used in the movie are all real boxers not just actors..so you know you are in for a real boxing movie.

The story is the best thing about the movie, it's boxing movie, but there is a heart wrenching love story and the struggle of being an athlete for a sport that some think does not earn real money "like soccer players" There is the rich father who won't let his daughter marry the champ who comes from modest background. There is the coach with a sick daughter that needs an urgent surgery. There is also the villain who has the fortune and the authority to make the life of the champ a living hell.

See the trick of making a good boxing movie is to have a good camera crew, a crew that knows how to move the camera around and get the shots that deliver a message that the champ just took a hit...this has been missing in previous boxing movies, but not this time, it's a lot better as the camera crew seem to have been in the business for years. Another thing that made the movie popular is the songs Hamada covered in the course of the movie. There is Sa'at, the song that makes you want to weep and shows you a champ that is casing a tragedy of the heart. Min Dalwa'ti, a song about being ready to take a punch and jump into the ring. Thinkf of it as the Arab version of the Eye of the Tiger...it does not disappoint in that sense.



من دلوقتى هبدء افوق حماده هلال اغنيه رائعه جدا