Midaq Alley Jorge Fons (Mexico, 1995)

The vivid tableau of the urban slum introduces the most diverse characters afflicted by the demoralizing reality of poverty, hopelessness and falsehood. The destinies of Midaq Alley’s residents meet in a thousand and one ways until they fill up the neighbourhood with sad and beautiful tales. Bar tender Rutilio falls in love with a young boy; Abel leaves the lovely Alma to search for a job and money in the United States: this self-willed girl becomes a prostitute and her mother tries to get her own husband but only the middle aged tenant lady succeeds in matrimonial plans.

Veteran director Jorge Fons uses dozens of fates to depict the negative impact caused by the modern lifestyle, not forgetting alcohol, herb smoking or girl trafficking. The novel and the film deal with societal issues of disillusionment, while Mahfouz’s reality gives admirable aspects of humanism as well. Parallel to people believing deeply in the existence of ideal love, there exist women in various stages of emancipation. In spite of the four decades between the novel and the film, the phenomenon of women searching for themselves in a repressive society is still alive.

One area in which Jorge Fons’ movie constitutes a true achievement is the disjointed narration of the story, a form that became so stylish from the mid 90’s. We can make a shrewd guess that Alejandro González Iñárritu, someone of such high stature in contemporary Mexican cinema, maintains the tradition perpetuated by Midaq Alley in the complex narrative of his films.

by Janka Barkoczi