Charao El Hashishe - شرّعوا الحشيشة
A noble cause with a dash of humor. - 6/10
by Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon
Art imitating life. The latest entry in the Lebanese film industry, Charao El Hashishe, is as humorous as its noble.
The movie follows the realistic events of 5 underprivileged men whom are forced to steal for a living. Once arrested and sentenced to prison, they realize that its time to upgrade from theft to drug dealing. Indulging in the glory of their success, their lives soon comes tumbling down as they start to understand the consequences of drug dealing and intoxication.
Not taking itself seriously, this film managed to create a sarcastic atmosphere that everyone in the audience fell in love with. There is no chance you won't laugh at Khitam Lahham's absolutely perfect and hilarious performance or at Adnan Dirani's 'Birahmet Khalil'. This was by far one of the few aspects this movie nailed.
In other words, if we look at it superficially, this movie is funny and well performed. But unfortunately, the story is inconsistent, the plot is nowhere to be found and we've got to see only a glimpse of a message.
Let me start by the story, at first it started really well with a rather good pace and I thought I'm in for a fantastic ride but soon after the excitement wore out and Charao El Hashishe's story followed its predecessors (past lebanese comedies) into cliché town. No, this is not what i signed up for. Its not acceptable for such a story to be all over the place. It honestly lost all sense of direction and reality for that matter. Eno C'mon, at least make it consistent and understandable. And don't get me started about those awful act transitions. Walaw, they looked absolutely childish.
Moreover, there wasnt enough background study. I sympathized with these characters but i didnt understand their motives fully and i dont think this is what Rindala was looking for.
So I bet by this point you have lost all hopes and wondering why i gave this movie a 6. Well like I mentioned earlier in my review, this movie contained some really well performances from either Khitam Lahham and Adnan Dirani or the main cast in general. But what really impressed me is its attempt to raise social awareness and provide some basic information about drugs and their deadly consequences.
Before I continue my review, I would like to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about this specific subject. Based on the latest statistics conducted by the Ministry of Public Health regarding drug access, more than 40% of secondary school students reported it was VERY EASY to obtain tranquilizers and heroin. Now if this doesn't alarm you about this situation, I dont know what will. Various Rehabilitation centers, such as Oum El Nour, work tirelessly to help addicts at having a normal drug free life again but this is not enough. Nationwide awareness should be spread. Children and adults must know that this pest has severe consequences that can ultimately cause death. So, yes I would like to thank Rindala Kodeih for shining some light about this subject that we sometimes neglect or try to hide.
Now you see, with a cause this noble and this important i cant but give it a 6, even though it was badly presented but at least it was.
At the end, Charao El Hashishe is genuinely hilarious movie that you guys might enjoy!
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