“Between heaven and earth” … Why is this unnecessarily tragic ending?

The series “Between Al-Sama and Al-Ard”, consisting of only 15 episodes, is adapted from a movie of the same name by director Salah Abu Seif and written for the cinema by Naguib Mahfouz, and the film stars Hind Rostom, Abdel Salam Al-Nabulsi, Abdel-Moneim Ibrahim and Mahmoud Al-Meligy.

As for the series, it stars a large group of artists, including Hani Salama, Muhammad Lotfi, Ahmed Bedir, Sawsan Badr, Nada Moussa, and others. The script was written for the series, Islam Hafez, and directed by Muhammad Jamal Al-Adl. Read also A week after the launch of the Ramadan series, there is a great controversy on the platforms in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen There are many series … but Tunisians prefer the old Ramadan drama Psychiatric diseases in Ramadan dramas .. Series that presented the disturbances in a realistic manner The decor of the soap operas corrupted the Egyptian popular neighborhood in “Kings of Al-Jadana” and “Meat deer”

The series revolves around a group of individuals entering an elevator in a large multi-storey building, and suddenly the elevator stops by an actor, and we see a gang headed by “Mustafa Darwish”, and we do not know why she stopped the elevator except that she wanted a specific person from inside him, and the hours passed by the detainees, while all fail Attempts to save them.

Differences between movie and series

The two artistic works are separated for more than 60 years, so it was necessary to make changes to the script, as the scriptwriter preserved Islam preserving the characters of the original work as much as possible, while changing what is needed to fit the current era and fit his story, the unseen stretched thread between some of the individuals. The elevator should have been present in order to enrich the episodes and show the personal history of the heroes of the work, which was not, of course, found in the original work, so that the original work did not mention the names of the characters except for the famous actress.

The series also preserved the comic sense that appeared in the movie, so some comic scenes overwhelmed the situation, which is normal in such a situation, and also preserved the presence of some characters, such as the fugitive madman who caused most comedic situations, such as Muhammad Tharwat, and the servant who turned To a maid whose role was represented by Nada Musa, the aristocratic chorus whose role was represented by Muhammad Lotfi, the old wise person who played Ahmed Badir, the character of the actress represented by both Sawsan Badr and Najla Badr, and the pregnant woman represented by Nourhan.

Most of the staff performed well and distinguished themselves in some situations without others, but 3 actors emerged: Muhammad Tharwat, Mahmoud Al-Laithi and Nada Moussa, especially Muhammad Tharwat, who managed in this series to escape from the restrictions of the comedic roles that he was famous for, and presented a tragic performance that affected the viewers. Jalal Abu Al-Wafa’s role is a ticket to his release from the comedy prison.

Bored, despite the short series

The series is based on 3 lines, the first line is the line of those imprisoned inside the elevator, and the second line of the past that explains the history of the characters and the reasons for their presence at this moment inside this elevator, and the reason for the tension that envelops them and the mutual accusations, while the last line is going on at the present time outside the elevator and attempts to fix it And the mysterious conversations between the gang members, and the attempts of “Dora” to rescue her husband, who is imprisoned in the elevator.

Although the series is only 15 episodes, it could not break the trap of moments of boredom as well, and strangely enough, the boring scenes were not inside the closed elevator with few events, but in the scenes that revolve outside it, which were weak, whether in terms of acting or dialogue, it came The representation of all the characters is lackluster and ineffective, led by Dora and Mustafa Darwish, in addition to the great ambiguity that led to the empty meaning of the dialogue completely.

A huge downfall of the series was the vulgar driver who was supposed to connect the elevator wires to the architecture, his scenes were ridiculous, fabricated and very boring, and it was possible to show corruption, indifference and bureaucracy in a more interesting way.

Profiling trap

The series also fell into the trap of flattening the conflict between secularism and extremism, which does not hesitate to do anything even if the bombing was without giving real reasons behind choosing this particular place, especially since the “sheikh” behind the explosion is a well-known person in the media. Advertising

The series also presented several other typical characters, such as the wise man who does not open his mouth except to deliver a sermon here or there, refusing to sell the library and turn it into a center for PlayStation games, in symbolic of the end of the era of culture and reading.

Dedication to eloquent

It is mentioned in the series’ series that it is a dedication to eloquent Hamdi’s time and music, this of course appears in the character of the elevator philosopher who shows from his personal history his intense love for eloquent and his music, so that he named his only son after his name, and the names of the episodes were all after the names of Baligh’s songs.

However, the real addition to Baligh Hamdi’s memory in the series was the soundtrack taken from his melodies and songs that accompanied certain scenes, such as “Dear People” by Abdel Halim Hafez, and the song “Fat Al-Mi’ad” by Umm Kulthum.

Contrasted end

Of course, the end of the original film differed from the ending presented by the series, in the movie the gang was arrested and the fire brigade rescued the imprisoned individuals. On the roof of the property, causing a fire that reaches the electrical panel, separates the elevator, and falls freely without brakes.

The director may have chosen this end for his heroes after each character revealed their inner core and became naked in front of themselves and in front of others, and also revealed the facts that they tried to hide and their orbits for a long time, so it became difficult for them to live with these facts in front of these people and in front of themselves, or perhaps the free fall The downfall of society itself.