Review of Clash (2017) by Dawdlingpoet — 24 Nov 2021

This is a fairly frantic and somewhat disorientating watch, which depicts the social unrest and anger of Egyptians at the time its set in (the Egyption coup in the early 2010s). I remember hearing about many journalists being detained at the time, the outrage it caused in the west and so on.

Film wise, the fear is quite palpable and due to the confined setting of the film, there's also the inevitable sense of claustrophobia present. Its perhaps a little unsettling how quickly the characters decide to label and categorise each other but its certainly a thought provoking watch. I suppose, to some degree, its about the psychology of being in such a situation, confined in a van with other people due to having been present at a protest. It does make you question how people are treated in such situations. There is some pretty jerky/shaky camerawork present, which may, or may not, bother you but otherwise I don't think there's much else I can say about it. I thought it was an interesting watch, a good film, not entirely memorable or great but pretty good and so I'd recommend it on that basis. Oh and perhaps also worth mentioning is that there is some blood depicted, which may make those phobic of blood queasy, so if that applies to you then it may be perhaps better to avoid this film but otherwise its good.