‘Nasser’ Showcases Leader’s Grit in Epic Story of Canal

“Nasser 56,” which opens today at the Vine Theater on Hollywood Boulevard near Vine Street, is a splendid, highly engrossing historical epic that will most likely go unseen outside the Arabic-speaking community.

That’s a shame because, in thoroughly entertaining fashion, it gives an idea of what it means for a small Middle Eastern nation to dare to defy the world’s superpowers, the United States and its Western allies in particular.

That’s exactly what Egypt’s then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser did in July 1956, when he boldly orchestrated the nationalization of the Suez Canal, the construction of which had cost the lives of 120,000 Egyptians from a population of only 4 million a little more than a century earlier. Director Mohamed Fadel and writer Mahfouz Abd Al Rahman, who shrewdly film in black and white so as to match vintage newsreel footage, present Nasser (an effectively understated Ahmad Zaki) as a modest, selfless paragon dedicated to his nation’s self-determination and devoted to his family.

They pull off the necessary trick of making suspenseful a pivotal incident, the outcome of which is part of modern world history. They do this by taking us step by step through the unfolding of Nasser’s fearless plan, triggered by the withdrawal of the United States and Britain from promised support of the construction of the Aswan High Dam, so crucial for generating electricity and thereby developing Egypt’s economy, not to mention providing major flood control.

Nasser must grapple with the monumental questions of whether, first of all, Egypt should nationalize the canal, then of how to do it and finally of how to operate it afterward--all in the face of the very real likelihood of triggering war.

In the process, Zaki’s Nasser emerges as a visionary of immense courage, concentration and daring. Surely, the actual Nasser was more complex--and he did have a dark side, not explored here--yet “Nasser 56” is most persuasive, especially in the justness of Nasser’s and Egypt’s cause in the name of independence and self-sufficiency.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: suitable for all ages except small children.

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‘Nasser 56’

Ahmad Zaki: Jamal Abd El-Nasser

A Middle East Communication Assn. Co. presentation. Director Mohamed Fadel. Screenplay by Mahfouz Abdel Rahman. Cinematographers Abdel Latif Fahmi, Isam Fareed, Ibrahim Saleh. Editor Kamal Aobut Al-Ela. Costumes Samia Abdel Aziz. Music Yasser Abdel Rahman. Set designer Nabil Saleem. Art director Mamdouh El-Leyti. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. In Arabic, with English subtitles.

* Exclusively at the Vine Theater, 6321 Hollywood Blvd., (213) 463-6819.