Search - The Bellydancers of Cairo on DVD

Just barely begins to scratch the surface

Cassandra Strand | Roseville, MN USA | 01/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I had really high hopes for this documentary and it certainly covers topics which are of both importance and interest. The reason I gave this only 4 stars is not because the content or production wasn't good but rather that it lacked the proper depth. I understand that producing something with a limited budget poses serious limitations but at the same time if you don't go in-depth enough it's still almost wasted money. For example, religion plays a huge part in the acceptance of bellydance as a social practice and as a performing art yet all we really hear is an anonymous look into religions role by an unidentified man. While I would respect the unidentified man's testimony regarding a general public view I cannot take his views on religion seriously without some credentials. I'm sure that while in Egypt they could have stoped by Al-Azhar and asked for someone to talk with about this. If you want to know what the religon says and how that's been interpreted you should go to a source who has proper credentials. It would also have been nice to hear from the dancers how they reconcile seemingly contraditory religious beliefs with their professions. In addition the majority of information we are given by someone about Islamic beliefs revolves around an incomplete section regarding hijab and modesty but is not backed up by the Qur'anic veres and supporting hadith. This documentary did do a very good job of exploring some of the socio-cultural dynamics of choosing this profession and how that affects both performers and their families but even this could have been explored on a deeper level. Although I sort of felt this throughout the entire production it's especially clear through the directors commentary (part of the special features) that this is presented with a western slant. It very much presents a western bias in taking in the information to the point where an Arab or Muslim viewer would probably feel a little jaded. It is not a very neutrally presented documentary with all it's biases and does tend to not only present things from a western view but also gives the interpretation of that being the proper ideology that one should have. All in all you can't expect a single, self-produced documentary to present the sort of in-depth knowledge that would take the discovery channel a couple million and an entire series to properly showcase. If your a bellydancer, dance ethnologist, or just interested in bellydance, Egypt, or performing arts in general I'd still recommend this documentary since what is covered is still good and at least gives a starting point for further research and exploration. Just keep in mind if you really want to understand the content you will need to do further research and it will probably be an extensive amount of research which you would need to do. As for people upset about not seeing full performances, keep in mind this is a documentary on the position of dancers in Egypt on the social and culturual scale and not simply biographies or performances of them. It does show short clips throughout the film but it does not include full performances in the documentary itself. It does however include quite a few full performances in the special features section of the DVD. The performances themself could be sold as a seperate video for nearly the same price so if you think about it this is almost a two-for-one deal."