In a vibrant Saudi cinema scene, 'Alhamour H.A.' misses the mark

Saudi Arabia's submission to the Oscars comes off as a cheap knock-off of Hollywood's 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.

With so many high-quality offerings in Saudi cinema, films must rise to a very high bar to meet audience expectations. Abdelelah Alqurashi's latest film 'Alhamour H.A'. falls short.

In a vibrant Saudi cinema scene, 'Alhamour H.A.' misses the mark

Obaid al-Tamimi

last update on 13 Feb 2024

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the country's film sector. The industry is currently in the midst of a golden era, with numerous Saudi productions being screened in theatres, film festivals, as well as digital platforms such as Netflix.

Among the top productions is Alhamour H.A., Saudi Arabia's submission to this year's Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. After selling 200,000 tickets at the Saudi box office, the film is streaming on Netflix.

Too many similarities

Based on a true story that took place at the turn of the millennium, it follows a security guard who amasses a significant fortune through a Ponzi scheme.

However, the film has several shortcomings that reflect broader issues in the Saudi cinema scene.

For starters, it tries to imitate Western cinematography rather than simply drawing inspiration from it. As such, it feels far removed from its native Saudi context.

Furthermore, the characters are shallow and fail to engage viewers or generate interest in the plot. Online critics, for instance, pointed to a lack of chemistry between the lead actor and his second wife.

From a technical standpoint, there are too many camera shots from bizarre angles that seemingly serve no purpose whatsoever. And finally, its long running time seemed unnecessary since the storyline wasn't very engaging.

Director Abdelelah Alqurashi places the protagonist as the narrator and uses montage to condense time, which, at the outset, seems to be a fitting approach because it appears that we are watching a sprawling biographical work.

But within half an hour, you realise that you are, in fact, watching a remake of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, in which a stockbroker (Leonardo Di Caprio) breaks the law to make billions and lives the high life before it all comes crashing down.

Online reviewers were quick to spot the similarities between the two films. For example, Hamed (Fahad Alqhatani) secures a one-million-riyal investment over the phone; he meets a woman at a fancy party and falls in love with her; then, his wife discovers his infidelity and confronts him.

All this, sadly, looks like a cheap knock-off of The Wolf of Wall Street.

Characters are shallow and fail to engage viewers. Its long running time seemed unnecessary since the storyline wasn't very engaging.

Being inspired by or re-enacting scenes from other movies isn't necessarily bad. It pays homage to an original work or a director. The same can be said for remaking a film in a different language if it is high-quality and respects the original.

A perfect example is Netflix's Arabic 2022 comedy-drama Perfect Strangers (a remake of the 2016 Italian film Perfetti Sconosciuti). It factors in cultural differences, and the entire cast delivers stellar performances.

Full of fillers

In addition to the many unjustified time jumps and montage sequences in Alhamour H.A., the character development of the lead actor is poor.

The audience needs to buy into his story to feel invested, but they walk away without any such feeling. This is especially problematic because the protagonist narrates through quick cuts and poorly acted scenes that expose major flaws in the script.

Another problem comes when the narrator's voice — which, in itself, is a lazy narrative tool — is not used as sparingly as it should be. It also fails to summarise nor advance the story — two core functions of narration.

Fahad Alqahtani and Khaled Yeslam in Alhamour H.A.

Elsewhere, the film spends too much time explaining a new trick. This could have been shortened if the editing was more professional.

In general, excessive filler scenes add no value to the story except to show the lead character's extravagant lifestyle. There are also too many pointless slow-motion shots.

Not without strengths

The film's greatest strength is probably its accurate portrayal of the period.

The filmmakers have made a real effort to take the audience back to a time before smartphones that now feels distant. Back then, Saudi society was just beginning to embrace Western culture in terms of fashion and lifestyle.

The film also shows how much Saudi cinema has grown and improved — from the script, cinematography, acting, costume, set design, and research for historical accuracy.

Excessive filler scenes add no value to the story except to show the lead character's extravagant lifestyle.

The film's storytelling shortcomings could have been ignored if the dialogue and acting were better. Yet, the dialogue is unrefined; it feels almost like a direct translation from English. Meanwhile, overacted scenes with exaggerated shouting don't help matters.

Saudi cinema in 2023 gave audiences several daring cinematic experiments in which filmmakers veered from orthodoxy, charted new territory, and challenged Saudi audiences' expectations.

With so many high-quality offerings, films must rise to a very high bar to meet audience expectations. Despite its flaws, the makers of Alhamour H.A. clearly had a vision for this film, which is to be applauded.

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