Asmaa is an impoverished Egyptian diagnosed with HIV, faced with the injustice of an unaware society that views the disease as a guaranteed death warrant. It does not stop there: Asmaa is also a women, making her journey much harder to endure.
All we really know about "Asmaa" is that its an attempt to tackle a long forgotten and dismissed taboo in Egypt. But tackling a taboo through a set of clichés will likely annoy viewers (like myself) and have a reverse effect.
The basis of the story gave the writer a excellent opportunity to expand and dig deep into the social, economic and political repercussions and consequences faced by HIV patients in Egypt.
The 96 minutes running time might have been the biggest flaw and dealt a fatal blow to the film, which suffered from a script that ineffectively blends together too many stories and ends up under developing each and every one of them.
Worn out clichés hurt the film badly. And example of this is the common and quite predictable television interview scene which has become the preferred alternative for a writer who is struggling creatively and stuck on a screenplay. ["Add in television interview scene." - "Add a shot of people staring at their TV stations as they watch the show." - Cut to: flashbacks scenes.] Sorry, but we have seen it before!
Story and writing-wise, her marriage story was so dull and uninteresting, it bored me (and lost my attention) by the second flashback. Likewise, her family and daughter storyline was insufficiently developed, leaving us with many unanswered question, and at times in utter confusion.
If there was ever a streak of genius in the movie, it was the lost opportunity to concentrate on group therapy sessions. There was so much (lost) potential there and regrettably, none were tackled appropriately. Instead, the writer left us with a few repetitive, uninspiring lines and little knowledge of how the disease actually affected the lives of the people we are listening to (or even Asmaa herself!).
Maged El Kedwany was undoubtedly the only attention-grabbing exciting character this movie produced. Too bad it was damaged by the tired and overused TV interview storyline.
Overall, at times I felt I was watching 678 with HIV replacing sexual harassment. Although Asmaa is mildly better than the mediocre 678, it suffers from much of the same weaknesses: an underdeveloped and weak screenplay and overacting (hint: Hend Sabry).
★★/★★★★
