JEDDAH –– The film “Al-Maslaha,” currently being screened in theaters in Egypt, has received a lot of negative criticism from Egyptian police officers. Al-Maslaha, meaning “interest,” revolves around drugs, drug barons in Egypt and mysteries that elude them. The battle against drugs gets fierce and ugly when it moves down to personal level, that is, when Hamza's younger brother Yahya, both police officers, gets killed at a checkpoint by a drug dealer. The killer who was trying to escape soon gets arrested by the authorities. On being found guilty, he is sentenced to death. In comes the killer's older brother Salem, who manages to smuggle his brother out of the prison. The film then goes on to portray how Hamza fights against drugs and the fugitive brothers. Police officers interviewed by Saudi Gazette said the movie does not hold any significance for police officers. Mustafa Harbi, an officer in Luxor's Central Security, said: “As a police officer the movie wasn't interesting to me. It does not represent the difficulties that police officers face on daily basis. It also does not tackle the psychological issues we have to suffer every day.” Harbi said that the film could have been better if they focused more on martyrs and victims from the police department, instead of focusing on the personal lives of the police officers who give priority to work over families. “In the movie, police officers are found to be deeply absorbed in their work, avoiding their families and friends completely.” Harbi said that post-film release there have been constant attacks on them from the media and the common man. This has weakened their position and tarnished their image. However, the film perfectly portrayed the dangerous work of the Central Security, and how they come to terms with criminals, drug and arms dealers on regular basis. “It's hard for the common man to imagine what we go through during security operations. There are gunshots fired at police officers and it's not every time that we are successful in our operations,” said Harbi, adding, “That the most important task is to ensure people's safety even at the expense of our lives.” Another police officer Ahmed, who works in General Security in Cairo, has a different opinion. He said the police officers have now gotten some attention and appreciation –– all because of the movie. Ahmed said the only reverence they get from the department when a police officer dies is a state funeral –– the body being shrouded with the national flag. He added, that the family does not receive any financial support from the state when a son of a family dies doing his duty. In the film, the state funeral of Yahya is shown, however, Ahmed criticized the part where the police officer goes out to seek revenge from the dealer. Ahmed said the real revenge would have been if the criminal was handed over to the concerned authorities. Starring in the movie are Ahmed Salah Alsaidni and Ahmed El Sakkah, who play the characters of Yahya and Hamza respectively, along with Ahmed Ezz who dons the character of Salem.
