UAE: When The Hamburg Cell was first screened in the Arab world this week, Egyptian-born actor Kamel feared audience reaction could descend into violence.
The film, which reconstructs the al-Qaeda plot behind the September 11th attacks, drew a strong response in Dubai on Thursday, but Kamel survived unscathed to tell the tale of what it was like to play Egyptian hijacker Mohammed Atta. "I was really nervous tonight. I thought maybe somebody could throw something," he said after the screening at the Dubai International Film Festival.
"I'm quite overwhelmed as this is my first time to see the film and it's the first time it's shown in an Arab country," said the actor, who declines to use his surname. "There is absolute evil in what they did and I did it knowing there's no way to take it any other way. But the film is asking you to know that this is where they came from."
Kamel and Lebanese actor Karim Saleh, who plays the Lebanese hijacker Ziad Jarrah, give powerful performances which focus on the psychology of the 19 attackers, 15 of whom were Saudis. Irishman Ronan Bennett's script suggests that Atta turned to fanaticism in part because of a cold, strict father and the more sociable Jarrah was brainwashed by radicals.
A number of Arabs in the audience however said the film, mainly financed by Britain's Channel 4, neglected the political backdrop of widespread enmity towards American foreign policy.
Anti-US sentiment has been strong among Arabs and Muslims because of perceived US bias towards Israel in its conflict with Palestinians.
In Europe some critics have said the film is too sympathetic to the 19 men, and relatives of the victims have said it should not have been made so soon after the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001.