In a deeply personal and courageous documentary, writer-director Bassam Mortada intricately threads family trauma with political oppression, resulting in a testament to collective suffering. Abo Zaabal 89 made its world premiere in the International Critics Week section of the Cairo International Film Festival, and is set to have its international premiere this week in IDFA’s Luminous sidebar.
Dissecting the high cost of political resistance, Abo Zaabal 89 is a remarkable achievement and a strong addition to Arab cinema this year. It should easily find its way to international film festivals with a political orientation and to countries with a high number of Arab exiles.
On a hot summer night in August 1989, Bassam’s father, Mahmoud Mortada, was imprisoned and tortured at the infamous Abo Zaabal prison alongside 52 other socialist activists, during a crackdown on workers’ strikes. Shortly after his release, Mahmoud, broken and disillusioned, left Egypt for Vienna, abandoning his family in the process. His departure left Bassam, then only five years old, in the care of his mother, Fardous, a resilient socialist activist who carried the burden of raising her son while grappling with her own trauma and illness. These unresolved fractures form the backbone of Bassam’s film as he courageously seeks to bridge the emotional chasm that has long divided his family.
Through interviews with his parents, friends, and fellow activists, Bassam pieces together fragments of their shared past. Particularly haunting are the cassette recordings Mahmoud sent from Vienna, which Bassam revisits, infusing them with reconstructed memories and flashbacks. These tapes, once a lifeline between father and son, now serve as an unflinching mirror to their fractured relationship, forcing questions about betrayal, guilt, and resilience. Bassam’s mother, who could not afford the luxury of breaking down or walking away as Mahmoud did, emerges as the film’s stoic anchor, her anger and disappointment underscoring the depth of her sacrifices.
In many ways, Bassam is like his father. Both have been defeated in their dreams and aspirations. Bassem is one of the millions of young people who participated in and believed in peaceful democratic change during the 2011 Arab Spring, a progressive, pro-democracy, left-leaning movement that was severely defeated, leaving many people dead or in prison. His father, too, was frustrated and defeated after getting out of prison, especially after a worker he fought to get elected to parliament switched sides to the ruling party.
Abou Zaabal 99 transcends being just a film about trauma in a dysfunctional family, putting all the director’s skills as a filmmaker to the test. Maged Nader’s camera captures the warm cinematic reenactment of his early family life: his mother preparing fried fish to give to his father during a prison visit, mixed with other reenacted scenes of his father in prison being beaten and tortured by the police.
Abo Zaabal, the notorious site of Mahmoud’s torture, is symbolically and physically reconstructed in the film, serving as both a literal and metaphorical space for Bassam’s inquiry into his father’s pain. This act of reconstruction is central to the documentary’s thematic ambition: by recreating the past, Bassam seeks not only to understand the trauma his father endured, but also to confront his own feelings of alienation and resentment.
The film is as much a testament to collective suffering as it is a critique of political oppression. By intertwining the personal with the political, Abo Zaabal 89 reflects on how Egypt’s turbulent history has shaped the intimate dynamics of its citizens. Bassam’s attempt to reconcile with his father mirrors a broader struggle to reconcile with a generation of activists who sacrificed everything for ideals that often remained unfulfilled. The reconciliation with the father is an attempt to understand himself.
Briefly mentioned in passing is the fate of the Iron and Steel Factory, site of Bassem’s father’s protest to defend a worker: it has been forcefully closed by the current Egyptian government and sold to be turned into shopping malls and gated communities. The symbolism is devastating.
Visually, the film employs a rich tapestry of archival footage, found materials, and dramatic monologues. A theatrical performance by Sayyed Ragab, Mahmoud’s best friend and fellow activist, becomes a particularly moving narrative device, bridging the personal and historical with the actor’s raw vulnerability. The use of newspaper archives and photographs further contextualizes the film’s personal narrative within the broader socio-political landscape of Egypt in the late 20th century.
In the end, Abo Zaabal 89 is more than a film about familial estrangement or the scars of political activism. It is an act of healing, a reclamation of history, and a meditation on the enduring complexities of love and loss. Bassam Mortada offers a profoundly brave work, making the private public in a way that invites universal empathy. This bravery extend to the very act of making a film in Egypt about political activists, torture, and political oppression. As a filmmaker, Bassam is no stranger to courage, being one of the founders of the video journalism department at the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm, once an alternative voice critical of the police.
The film’s ability to traverse time and space, moving from the shadowy corridors of a Cairo prison to the quiet isolation of exile in Vienna, underscores its power and significance. The film had its world premiere in the Cairo Opera House, a mile from Tahrir Square where the filmmaker, his mother and his father have been protesting since the 1970s, demonstrating against corruption, torture and oppression, and calling for labour rights. Now heavily militarized by the police, Tahrir Square today stands witness to defeated revolutions and crushed dreams.
Director, screenplay: Bassam Mortada
Production: Kesmat Elsayed for See Media Production, Anke Petersen for Joyti Films,
Kesmat Elsayed for SEERA Film GmbH
Co-production: Anke Petersen for Joyti Films, Anna Chester for JYOTI Film GmbH
Executive producer: Kesmat Elsayed
Cinematography: Maged Nader
Editing: Ahmad abo el fadl
Sound Design: Daniel Wulf, Philipp X
Music: Rami Abadir, Omar Elabd
Screenplay: Bassam Mortada
Venue: Cairo International Film Festival, International Critic’s Week
83 min