Arabic Version: Eriny Guirguis
English Version: sylvia Azmy
Last Thursday, 30th of June, was the premier of the movie kira & El Gin in the Egyptian cinemas. The movie takes place in a critical period in the national history of Egypt: the 1919 revolution.
It reflects the reality of the Egyptian society and the suffering of many Egyptians during the English colonization of Egypt. It also presents stories based on real Egyptian heroes who went through many battles against the colonization to gain Egypt its independence.
kira & El Gin, the Movie
kira & El Gin is primarily a patriotic movie based on “1919” by Ahmad Morad. It shows the younger generations how Egyptians loved their country and land, presenting the sacrifices they made for their country to be independent. Known by Ahmed Kira, Ahmed Abd El-Hai Kira- played by the Egyptian actor Kareem Abd El Aziz-, is a well-known legendary Egyptian militant. He is considered one of the secret heroes of the 1919 revolution who fought several battles against the English colonization. He was a medicine student who Yehia Haqi, the well-established writer and novelist, described him as the “scarecrow of English soldiers”.
The story of the Egyptian hero Ahmed Kira
Ahmed Kira is a militant and a real national hero who witnessed the English colonization of Egypt, known for his resistance against the colonizers. He was affiliated to the secret resistance movement whilst seeking the English soldiers’ friendship. He used to claim that he had been apolitical and refused to demonstrate against the English colonization. However, this was his cover for his political activism which made him look trustworthy to the English soldiers allowing him to use their laboratories to make ammunition to fight them.
He was intelligent that he was knowledgeable of several languages. He also knew how to disguise in different characters: an elite person, peasants, and foreigners; thus, the assassins’ team, led by Al-Niqrashi and Maher, depended on him in terrorizing the English soldiers.
The English soldiers discovered his real personality in 1924 through the confessions of the Sir Lee Stack’s assassins, and the British secret agency started chasing him. He became one of its optimal priorities, that it issued a statement to all its offices around the globe saying that “Ahmed Abd El Hai Kera, wanted dead or alive, a chemist in the medicine school, a political assassin.” Ahmed Kira fled to Turkey after the 1936 treaty, but the English soldiers were able to catch him and assassin him on one of Istanbul’s suburbs.
