City of Life

Last night, I saw "City of Life," the first feature length movie about Dubai, for the second time. The movie, directed by Ali Mostafa, an Emirati, debuted at the Dubai International Film Festival in December. Now it is playing in all the theaters in the city and is the talk of the town. The production was led by Dubai-based Filmworks, which worked on "The Kingdom" and "Syriana." So here is a movie that does not depict US power projection in the region.


The film is admittedly unoriginal, weaving together the lives of three Dubai characters in a way too similar to "Amores Perros" or "Crash." However, because the movie is shot in Dubai, it is a hit and very entertaining. I became rather attached to the three trite main characters:

Faisal - the playboy son of an Emirati real estate magnate who must face the consequences of his sinful lifestyle
Basu - the Gujarati cab driver with Bollywood aspirations who receives a lucky break
Natalya - the Bucharesti flight attendant who falls in love with an advertising executive

WATCH THE CITY OF LIFE TRAILER HERE

Reviews of the film have been largely positive. The audiences I went with were largely Emirati and Saudi in composition, and they absolutely loved Faisal's storyline, especially his nice cars and clubs he went to (which were probably the planned activities of the Emiratis in the cinema for the rest of the night). The issues tackled in the movie were surprisingly progressive as well and included extra-marital affairs, Arabs drinking alcohol and abortion.

One of my friends had another take on the move, saying it was enjoyable and mostly realistic because "no one is really that happy and everyone screws everyone else over."

Such is Dubai, the City of Life.