Nasser 56

A two hour and twenty minute black and white docu-drama dealing with Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956? Yow! You know we're not in Hollywood anymore, Toto! Nasser 56 provides an oddly fascinating--although seemingly interminable--look at the years following the coup which toppled Egypt's monarchy, bringing Nasser to power as president of the new republic. These years are portrayed as a series of head-on confrontations with Western powers: the struggling young republic betrayed by perfidious dealings of Britain and the U.S. Failing to win early financial support from these powers for the crucial Aswan Dam Project, Nasser ups the political and economic ante by seizing control of the strategically crucial Suez Canal. The film's two-plus claustrophobic hours are focused almost exclusively on a saintly, beleaguered Nasser (Ahmad Zaki) as he frets and agonizes over the decision, to the tune of an over-the-top melodramatic score. That's two and a half hours with nary a car crash, an explosion, or as much as an unclad ankle...hell, for that matter, nary a significant external shot (other than cleverly edited historical stock footage). When I asked an Egyptian-born Middle Eastern Studies faculty acquaintance for his opinion of the film, he slapped his forehead and moaned: "Why didn't they just make either a decent hour-long documentary or an Oliver Stone-type bit of wild historical fabrication?" I agree. Optional. (G. Handman)