The Settlement

In Mohamed Rashad’s The Settlement (Al mosta’mera), there is a match made in hell between a desire to seek normalcy and surviving burdens of the past. Premiering in the Berlinale’s Perspectives section, writer-director Rashad presents a visually bold workplace drama that critiques the social structures that predetermine individuals’ fates, based on their backgrounds.

The film stays far away from the stereotypical image of Alexandria, dubbed “the Bride of the Mediterranean” in Egyptian tourism brochures, and takes its story into a working-class, impoverished neighborhood actually named The Settlement. It starts with the young Maro (Ziad Islam) insisting he wants to leave school and join his older brother Hossam (Adham Shoukry), who is working in the factory as a machine operator — a factory without any safety measures. How both boys got this job remains a mystery for a couple of minutes.

The backstory is that their father has died in a mysterious factory accident, and the management offers his sons the same job as compensation to avoid legal repercussions. This sets up a story that might condemn legal corruption and the lack of accountability in the workplace. Instead, Rashad focuses on his character’s attempt at redemption and reintegration into society after a rough start with drugs and dealing.

As a famous Egyptian saying goes, “Say, what did your grandfather leave you? Your father, and he is already dead”—a punchline reflecting the absence of the often-romanticized relationship  between a father and his children. The nightmarish reality of Hossam, a former drug dealer who is now the sole breadwinner of the family, is that he is forced to inherit his father’s work with all its burdens. That is when one of the most important characters is introduced: the factory itself.

The bleak plant where Hossam works is more than a workplace for the main characters: it is a post-apocalyptic setting with outdated machines symbolizing an endless cycle of meaningless labor. Despite this horrific image, the factory serves as the film’s central visual and thematic element, suggesting that it is not just a workplace but rather a world in itself where individuals are self-contained and trapped in a structure that will eventually outlive them. Hence, Hossam is trapped with the burden his father has left him, like the house that he has to share with his rebellious younger brother and his sick mother (Hanadi Abdel Khalek).

Hossam is not described as a typical working-class young man fighting against corrupt capitalism, an abusive police officer, or any other villain. He is a complex figure torn between destructive impulses and a sincere desire to change. We see this in his desperate attempt at normalcy, for example, when he turns his back on senior engineers demanding he score drugs for them, or in his romantic interactions with a female factory worker (Hajar Omar) and his desire for a serious relationship. One scene, in which he is crushed and tormented by his pain, shows him slowly hugging her, aching for acceptance — a moment beautifully captured on camera.

This is not the first time the filmmaker has presented the factory as a film set. His 2016 documentary Little Eagles explores social class and generational struggles through the journey of his father, who was also a factory worker. Here the cinematography (by Mahmoud Lotfi) and production design (by Yasser El Husseiny) have made the factory one of the main characters, a mute witness to the protagonist’s struggles.  The film falls squarely into a film tradition featuring socially marginalized characters, a subgenre that has deep historical significance in Arab cinema and especially in Egypt. This genre focuses on the struggles of the working class, minorities, women, and individuals who are slowly losing their significance in neo-liberal structures. Usually these characters are presented to be admired and sympathized with; they are victims even if they are perpetrators, winners even if they are losers. Here, instead, the protagonist is an uncomfortable character who is at times violent, an awkward presence who creates an uneasy flow in the story, making it difficult to sympathize with him. Yet this paradox allows the film to reach an even higher level of realism and an honest portrayal of working people, reflecting the bitter reality of millions of young Egyptians today. 

Director, screenplay: Mohamed Rashad
Cast: Adham Shoukry, Ziad Islam, Hajar Omar, Hanadi Abdel Khalek,
Mohamed Abdel Hady, Emad Ghoneim
Producer: Hala Lotfy
Co-Producers: Etienne de Ricaud, Kesmat El Sayed
Cinematography: Mahmoud Lotfi
Editing: Heba Othman
Music: Tony Overwater
Sound Design: Mohamed Salah
Production Design: Yasser El Husseiny
Casting: Adel Raouf
Production companies: Hassala Films
International sales: MAD World info@madworld.film
Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Perspectives)
In Arabic
94 minutes