The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

Osaka, Japan

Omar Sharif as an Example of Changes and Encounters Muhammad Gamal 0171 University of Canberra, Australia The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings 2012

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The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

Osaka, Japan

Introduction Western cinema acknowledged the advent of the young, suave and lady-killer from the Nile, Omar Sharif, after his debut in Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean:1962). Yet, very few cinema viewers would recognize, let alone know, that Omar Sharif was an established film star in his native Egypt in the decade prior to Lawrence of Arabia. In Egypt, he was the box-office beloved name and face that almost guaranteed excellent receipts. There are 21 titles in which he appeared with six of which are included in the List of the Best 100 Films ever produced in Egyptian cinema (Tawfic: 1969) . Two of these films, River of love (Ezzedine Zulfiqar: 1960) in which he appeared with his then wife Faten Hamama who later became known as the Lady of Egyptian Cinema, and A Man in Our House (Henry Barakat: 1961) are classic films well-known in every Arab city and cherished by millions of Arabic film viewers. Despite this fame, none of the 21 films, let alone the last two, is known in the west: the reason being Omar was speaking in his native language; Arabic.

The DVD industry Digital technology made films available, affordable and portable. DVDs have now completely replaced the video cassette. Yet one of the most valuable features the DVD has come to enjoy is its accessibility to a multitude of viewers through the function of subtitling. Although the DVD industry is generally dated to 1998, the technology and the concept came to Egypt in 2002 and the first film to be subtitled was Omar Sharif’s film A Man in our House.

The first decade of the history of the Egyptian DVD industry witnessed technological, administrative and commercial developments and changes that have seriously affected the industry. One of these developments was the sudden rise of the industry without backing or support from the film industry or the allied industries such as media companies, ministry of culture, the national cinema organisation, the Cairo Film Festival or the translation community in Egypt. To date, and despite the considerable amount of subtitling carried out in Egypt ( and in every Arab country) there is no fully-designed academic or even a basic professional training program in audiovisual translation and to date no Arab translation conference has examined Audiovisual translation (Gamal: 2007, 2009). The situation is not entirely unusual as many countries in the world do not examine audiovisual translation despite its significance to the local culture, local tourism industry and its film industry abroad. Thus countries like Russia, Japan, Australia, China, India, and Brazil do not lend audiovisual translation the same importance that Western Europe has particularly over the past decade or so.

The Egyptian case is different though. The country traditionally relies on translation as a major bridge for cultural, technical and commercial contact with the outside world. While    

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The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

Osaka, Japan

traditional translation studies has been established since the days of Egypt’s enlightenment pioneer Sheikh Rifa’a Rafi’ At-Tahtawee (1801-1873) who started the Egyptian modern school of translation linking translation to development (Taher:2009), the different genre of translating audiovisual material has not been adopted by the translation schools for several reasons. Chief among these reasons is the emphasis on the political/economic and literary/scientific strands again linking translation study to development requirements and are closely guided by market requirement. Another reason and perhaps more relevant is the technical nature of audiovisual which the current faculty did not grow up with and have not yet mastered, i.e., being comfortable with computers and dealing with specialised software. This is in addition to the cost involved in setting up fully-equipped labs (despite the fact that laptops can now accommodate most subtitling software programs which are becoming not only affordable but some are actually free). Yet, one of the significant reasons why audiovisual translation has not been taken up by academia in Egypt (and this goes for the Arab world as well) is the fact that audiovisual translation examines the spoken variety of Arabic, an area which almost no translation school is prepared to accept. All translation and interpreting programs examine only traditional “written” translation which employs the more revered and respected classical variety of Arabic. In Egypt, the spoken language differs almost completely from the written language and is not examined by academia and is never studied by natives (Haeri: 2003).

Against this background, the DVDs that are produced in Egypt present classic Egyptian films subtitled by ‘traditional translators’ who, in the majority, are oblivious of the multimodality of the filmic material and, most likely, lack the pre-requisite experience in classic film literacy. Thus Omar Sharif films are produced by subtitlers who tend to treat a classic film as a mere mono-dimensional text focusing only on the dialogue list.

Subtitling classic films Egyptian cinema, the oldest and most extensive cinema industry in the Middle East and Africa ( Hayward: 2000) has a wide reception in Egypt and in the entire Arab world since its debut in 1927 with the silent film Kiss in the desert and its first talkie Children of the Rich in 1932. The examination of subtitling Egyptian films into foreign languages has not received the same attention the translation of Egyptian classic literature has. For instance, the novels of Naguib Mahfouz have been examined in doctoral thesis that tackled its translations into English, adaptation by Mexican film directors and discussed by non-Arab translators of his works. Yet, the subtitling of Mahfouz’s films remains a terra incognita for literary and translation studies alike. The works of Omar Sharif, and despite his international status as a film star, have suffered from the lack of interest in audiovisual studies (Gamal: 2010). Research in subtitling cinema classics has attracted the attention of several scholars particularly those who focused on the translation of cultural images (Pederson: 2010), translation of non-verbal communication (Poyatos: 1997) and subtitling quality. Morgan    

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The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

Osaka, Japan

(2001: 164) argues that “Good subtitles cannot save a bad film, but bad subtitles can spoil a good film”. This applies readily to classic films that have been locally successful but fail to make the same impact on target language viewers. James (201:152) explains how subtitles work: “A viewer must be able to follow the subtitles with ease and be able to have faith in their contents. Subtitles should be correct, clear, credible and give the impression of being part of the action on the screen. Above all, the viewer should enjoy following a subtitled programme of film in such a way that the subtitles form a natural part of the action.

Over the past fifty years and since his debut in international cinema Omar Sharif has been an iconic figure in Egyptian cultural life and has been frequently called upon to present Egypt at international fora. His image as an actor speaking in Arabic remains one that has not been fully utilized. As most of his earlier Egyptian films are now available on DVDs and subtitled into English and French, the subtitling of classic Egyptian films merit a more rigorous academic examination of the subtitling techniques that deal with the multimodality of filmic material. El-Batal (2000:3) observes on the importance to pay attention to subtitling in the age of satellite channels: “Thanks to satellite channels Egyptian Arabic has become accessible to viewers everywhere and with it the need to ensure that it is conveyed with a higher degree of accuracy particularly when displaying works that represents our culture to others”. For this, perhaps, A man in our house, his most popular film in Arabic deserves serious examination by translation scholars and officials at the Egyptian Film Organisation, a body whose task is to promote Egyptian cinema abroad. In the unregulated DVD industry in Egypt, the current subtitling practice not only undermines classic films abroad but also sabotages the reputation of the entire film industry.

A man in our house (1961) The film shows Omar Sharif playing the role of a freedom fighter who takes refuge at the house of one of his friends for four nights during the Muslim month of Ramadan (Abdelqudous: 1996). The film is replete with cultural signs that reflect Egyptian history, culture, religion, dialects, songs and above all the language of the Egyptian vernacular. The difficulty in subtitling the film stems not only from its clever dialogue and numerous references to cultural signs and images but also from the frequent non-verbal communicative features in the film as seen in the employment of graphic plates in the introduction, sotto voce, graffiti, mural paintings and cultural signs. An examination of the subtitling shows that the modus opernadi relied essentially, and almost solely, on the dialogue list and without recourse to the film. In subtitling, it’s a cardinal sin to subtitle a film without watching it, yet alas, it is a sin that is frequently and nonchalantly committed as exemplified in the lack of subtitles for graffiti (which were not mentioned in the dialogue list as they were not spoken)

   

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The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

Osaka, Japan

and in the lack of subtitles for mural paintings, possibly due to poor level in film literacy where the subtitler is unfamiliar with techniques employed by earlier Egyptian film directors.

One of the techniques favoured by Egyptian directors in the fifties and sixties was the employment of a narrated introduction. More often than not this is carried out by the main protagonist whose voice lends credence to the film. At times, a different albeit popular voice is employed. In A man in our house, the voice of a popular radio announcer (Galal Mouawad) is employed which amplifies the context of the film. The language employed in the narration is the high variety of Arabic and is emotionally charged as it sets the scene for the film. This extra-linguistic feature is lost in the subtitles.

A man in our house is a classic film that has been shown on Egyptian television several times a year for the past 50 years. It has become the defacto national film par excellence that embodies the Egyptian character. In 2011 and on the fiftieth anniversary of the film, very little reflection was given to the work of Ihssan Abdelqudous who wrote the novel in 1957 in the wake of the Suez Crisis of 1956. While the film ends with the words “And that was the BEGINNING” in a direct reference to the July 1952 Revolution, Egypt was too busy with a new revolution in January 2011 to reflect on the significance of the golden jubilee of its cinema classic. The film, in black and white, is an iconic symbol of Egyptian cinema whose subtitling deserves examination not only by translation researchers but also by film scholars and cinema specialists and those interested in cultural studies.

The voice of Egypt abroad Since his debut in Egyptian cinema in Blazing Sun (Yousef Shaheen: 1954), the voice of Omar Sharif has been distinctively heard not only in film but also in radio drama as well as documentaries. He also lent his voice to the introductory narration of The Ladies’ Barber (Fateen Abdelwahab: 1960). Yet, his voice represented Egypt in international fora from archaeological documentaries where his narration provided the audio for spectacular video productions particularly those produced by the National Geographic. The Mysteries of Egypt (Neibaur:1998) has Sharif participate in a documentary on Egyptian archaeology. Previously he worked on Michael Goldman’s documentary Umm Kalthum: a voice like Egypt (1996) in which it documented the story of Egypt’s most prominent female singer. Likewise, for the Discovery Channel, Omar Sharif’s voice was the choice of the directors and producers of a documentary on Cleopatra’s Palace: In search of a legend (2004). Also, in 2005 he was the narrator for The Search for Eternal Egypt directed by Graham Judd. Most recently, the National Geographic-sponsored exhibition on Tut Ankh Amun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs that toured Australia in 2011 had the audio narrated by Sharif.

   

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In 2004, the Egyptian Football Association enlisted Omar Sharif to join the Bid Committee for the 2010 World Cup that presented Egypt’s case at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. Sharif was indeed a good choice for the image and voice of Egypt despite the failure to win any votes. The experience provides an excellent context to examine audiovisual translation in practice. The way the Egyptian bid was delivered received little or no examination and the failure to win was blamed on several reasons from late and rushed preparations to poor lobbying and even corruption in FIFA. However, one aspect is also relevant: the Egyptian presentation lacked coherence and the ‘audio’ didn’t match the ‘visual’ in the audiovisual presentation, despite the familiar and assuring voice of Omar Sharif.

Sharif’s voice was manipulated by film directors as he looks “distinctively Arab” as David Lean was searching for someone to play Sharif Ali in his epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Sharif excelled in playing the foreigner in many films. Thus he was cast playing a Russian, German, Mexican, central Asian and French. In addition to his voice, his accent also adds to the power of his delivery. In this regard, he capture the Egyptian character in his voice exactly as Edward Said did with his words and logic. It is ironic that in their childhood in Alexandria both were school mates at Victoria College. In his autobiography he talks of his cosmopolitan lifestyle (Sharif: 1977) and in numerous television interviews he mentions that he does not believe that he has a single mother tongue but rather several. Sharif speaks Arabic, English, French and Italian and has appeared in films in all.

Researching Omar Sharif The examination of the subtitling of Omar Sharif Egyptian films into English provides a unique opportunity for the study of subtitling classic films (Gamal: 2008). A comparative study of the English and French subtitling of A man in our house equally provides a worthwhile study of subtitling techniques particularly when the translation of Egyptian vernacular is concerned. Comparative studies in audiovisual translations are rare and the case of this Egyptian film provides a good starting point. It is equally interesting to reflect on the DVD subtitling of Omar Sharif’s foreign films into Arabic particularly those in which he played the traditional Arab character such as Hidlago (2004), The Horsemen (1971) and Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003).

The life journey of Omar Sharif as an Egyptian actor and cultural ambassador is rich in more than one way. Quite often, in his interviews he shows his command of cultural transfer which is evident in the responses to his interlocutors. When interviewed in Arabic by Egyptian media his answers though in Arabic reflect western thinking that are expressed in linguistic form as well as through his body language. The examination of these interviews is indispensable to students of cross-cultural communication.

   

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The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

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Muhammad Y Gamal Adjunct Associate Professor University of Canberra Email: [email protected]

References Abdelqudous, I. (1996) Fi baitina rajul (A man in our house). Abdelqudous Complete Collection published by Akhbar el Yom. Cairo. El Batal, M (2000) A dictionary of idioms. Egyptian Longman. Cairo. Gamal, M. (2007)“Audiovisual Translation in the Arab World” in Translation Watch Quarterly Vol. 3.2. Melbourne. Gamal, M. (2008) “Adding Text to Image: the challenges of subtitling non-verbal communication”, The XVII FIT Congress proceedings Shanghai. Foreign Language Press pp1513-1530. Gamal, M. (2009) “Foreign Films in Egypt”. Book chapter in Foreign Film Movies: between Dubbing and subtitling. by Golubovic, B. & A. Goldstein (Eds.) Verlag Dr Kovac. Gamal, M. (2010) “On the bridge between east and west which lane is fastest”, paper published in the proceedings of the inaugural Conference on the Arts and Humanities, Osaka, June 2010. http://www.iafor.org/ACAH_ACSS_2010.pdf Hayward, S. (2000) Cinema Studies: the key concepts. 2nd edition. Routledge. London. Haeri, N. (2003) Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. James, H. (2001) “Quality Control of subtitles: review or preview”” in Gambier, Y. and H. Gottlieb (Eds.) (Multi) Media Translation. John Benjamins. Amsterdam. Morgan, H. (2001) “Subtitling for channel 4 television” in Gambier, Y. and H. Gottlieb (Eds.) (Multi) Media Translation. John Benjamins. Amsterdam. Pederson, J. (2010) “When do you go for benevolent intervention? How subtitlers determine the need for cultural mediation.” In Cintas, J., A. Matamala and J.Neves(Eds.) New Insights into Audiovisual Translation and media Accessibility. Rodopi. Amsterdam.    

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Poyatos, F. (Ed) (1997) Nonverbal communication and translation. John Benjamins. Amsterdam. Sharif. O. (1977) The Eternal male. My own story with M.Therese Guinchard. Double Day. Taher, B. (2009) Abnaa Rifa’a: Al-thaqafa wal hurriya (the children of Rifa’a: culture and freedom). Dar Al-Shoruk. Cairo. Tawfic, S. (1969) Qissat al cinema fi Masr (The story of cinema in Egypt). Dar Al-Hilal. Cairo

   

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