Nagi El-Ali is the name of the Palestinian cartoonist who was driven out of Israel in 1948 at the age of ten and later, in 1967, also had to leave Beirut. In both cases, a war was going on which became the motive and subject of his furious mockery. Nagi El-Hali was killed in 1987 in London. He is portrayed as a brave, politically-independent and honourable man, who targeted with his mockery various Arab groups and PLO officials who gave lip service to the Palestinian cause, but didn’t do much. The murder of Nagi El-Ali has never been solved, but the PLO was suspected of being responsible.Nagi El-Ali always had a very subtle approach to the Palestinian issue so this film is not a simple anti-Israel film. It was made with a budget of one million dollars, which is vast for an Egyptian film. The leading role is played by the producer of the film, the well-known actor Nour El Sharif, who has played in more than a hundred films.The film was shot in Beirut, Kuwait, Syria and London, with the complete cooperation of the Syrian and Lebanese armed forces; there is not shortage of realistic explosions. The cooperation of the Syrians is somewhat ironic: the country was fighting a political battle with Arafat at the time, but after peace was made, Syria distanced itself from the film.
