Teenagers (film)

Plot

The film "Al murahikat a.k.a. Teenagers" talks about suppressed Egyptian teenagers who come from different backgrounds. The film mainly displays the lives of three teenagers who go to the same high school. Nada (Magda Kamel) comes from a high class, wealthy family. She lives in a mansion with her mother, brother and grandfather. The brother became the head of the family after the death of her father. He is a womanizer who spends money on his women, alcohol and drugs. Nada is 16 years old, very beautiful and innocent. She has never experienced true love before. She is not allowed to go out by herself. Her only freedom is when she meets her friends at school and they talk with each other. Nada’s best friend is Amina. Amina, who is the complete opposite of nada in ever way, comes from a very poor family; she is 16 years old lives with her mother, stepfather and stepbrother. Her stepfather is a very mean old man and is frequently intoxicated; he gives them a daily lecture that he is wasting money on them especially on his son Ahmed who is in college. Ahmed found peace at home because of his stepmother and stepsister who he loved very much. Huda the other teenager who comes from a well off family and who likes to party every night and skip school to meet boys with the knowledge of her mother and father who believe that they are giving her freedom in life.

Huda invited Nada to her birthday party, but Nada cannot mention it to her mother because she is not allowed out anywhere other than school; she eventually concocted a lie for her mother, telling her mother that her best friend was sick and in the hospital and that she wanted to go with their made to visit her. There she met a man named Issam (Rushdy Abaza) a very handsome military pilot. They fell for each other and slow danced for an hour. She came back home and told her grandfather. Issam wanted to marry her but her brother refused because they want her to marry her cousin. Nada’s best friend Amina died because she was pregnant with her stepbrother son and her stepfather forced her to take some kind of pills to abort the baby.

After she found out about her best friend’s death Nada had a nervous break down and especially since Issam left the country on a mission after Nada’s brother refused him. She was ill for sometime and even tried to commit suicide. After where her brother felt hurt and went to locate Issam and brought him to marry her.

Cast

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for a Golden Bear at the 11th Berlin International Film Festival.