Hur al3ayn - aka the '72 virgins' - and other Ramadan TV series

Sandmonkey is surprised that "there is a syrian TV-show, being broadcasted on a Saudi-owned TV network, during Ramadan, that attacks terrorism and Jihadis."

I was deploring the fact that I have no satellite TV to watch here while abroad ..but look forward to seeing the re-run or at least the last episodes soon, but I did not think that the foreign media will pick up on what we watch in Ramadan ;) Boy was I wrong eh ? This series is now going to be praised in the West and damned by the militants lol.

Najdat Anzour's series are ALWAYS great, the man is a genius.

Let's recall another controversial series last Ramadan : The Road to Kabul a love story in Afghanistan, which had to be taken off the air, apparently due to threats from militants also who did not want any badmouthing of the Taliban.
But somebody has another plausible 'conspiracy' theory and rumours :

'One such is that Condoleezza Rice, President George W Bush's national security advisor, phoned the Qatari leaders to ask them not to air the series.'

interesting

'The series is woven around a love story between a Palestinian whose parents lost their homes when Israel was created, and an Afghan woman whose family were forced to flee Kabul when the Communists seized power in 1979.
Once he develops an interest in the Afghan imbroglio, the Palestinian quickly concludes that this is the wrong war, provoked by the United States against the Soviet Union in the context of the Cold War. In one dramatic scene, he gives an Arab volunteer who is going to Afghanistan a lecture on how the whole thing is an American conspiracy to divert attention from the only war that matters: The war to liberate Palestine, presumably by wiping Israel off the map.
That view is hammered in throughout. One scene shows American intelligence agents encouraging Afghans to grow opium poppies that can then be used to produce heroin to be sold to Soviet soldiers.'

very very interesting...it's a pity they cancelled it .

Apparently the series 'suggests that the jihadists chose the wrong enemy.'

No Comment .

Check the whole essay here.

Talking about controversial Ramadan series, we can't forget the Egyptian Horseman without a Horse aired in 2002 in spite of US and Israeli requests that it be banned as anti-Semitic, because *gasp* 'it includes a sub-plot involving a [n allegedly] forged document - the Protocols of the Elders of Zion'. It gets funnier because forty-six members of the US Congress saw it as their duty to actually send a letter to President Mubarak expressing concern about it. hmmm talk about heavy lobbying here. If they had actually watched the show this is what they would find, read Alahram article about it.

'The show reviews the history of Arab struggle against imperialism, from Ottoman rule to British occupation. It tackles the Balfour Declaration and the role of imperialism in planting Israel in the region, together with the Jewish assault on the rights of the Palestinian people. The show only mentions The Protocols in passing.'

I enjoyed watching the show even though I think that Muhamad Subhi 's ( Egyptian actor) theatrical antics were overdone. But honestly without the hysterical outpouring from the international media I probably would have skipped it .. on hindsight maybe they should not have concentrated on it mush kiddah ? ;)

Thank you ( to whoever is in charge) for not cancelling it and hardluck for caving in on The Road to Kabul

Here is a good list of this year's Arab crop, here also . Unfortunately I can't see any of these at the moment. So I get to watch only one Ramadan series on Masriya TV: Places in the Heart- which so far looks a tiny bit *ahem* controversial to me..... more on that later ;) excuse me now I have to go and break my fast....