The comments of the stars and critics on the film poured through social networks and satellite channels.
Actress Iman Al-Assi expressed her admiration for the film and published the film’s poster through the “Al-Story” feature on her official account on the photo and video site “Instagram”, and said about it: “A very sweet movie.”
While the Tunisian actress, Aicha Ben Ahmed, congratulated the film’s heroine, Mona Zaki.
Mona Zaki, who found herself at the center of events after the film was shown, will not participate in the Ramadan race this year, after the company producing her new series, “Lam Shamsiya,” directed by Karim El-Shennawy, announced that he had left the Ramadan marathon, due to the multiple Corona injuries to his heroes.
The art critic, Tariq Al-Shennawy, said that the movie “The Friends and the Dearest” does not promote homosexuality, explaining that there is a difference between a sharp rejection or promotion.
He added, during a telephone conversation with the media, Azza Mustafa, on the “Tahrir Hall” program broadcast on Sada Al-Balad channel, that the film’s heroes are all Lebanese, except for Mona Zaki, the only Egyptian among the film’s heroes.
Al-Shennawi mentioned that the director is Lebanese and the film talks about the Lebanese environment, and that the vocabulary of the dialogue is also Lebanese, explaining that the film did not contain a sentence of dialogue, whether direct or indirect, that promotes homosexuality.
Al-Shennawy said that the Ministry of Culture or the censorship of artistic works has no guardianship over the artworks that are shown on the “Netflix” platform.
He pointed out that it is not possible to describe the role of Mona Zaki in the movie “Friends or Dearest” as a moral failure, explaining that the artist cannot be counted on what he presents within any artwork.
Tariq Al-Shennawy denied that the actress Mona Zaki took off her clothes as part of the events of the scenes of the movie “The Friends and the Dearest”, explaining that there is a confusion between imagination and reality in the exposure to the movie “The Friends and the Dearest”.
He emphasized that the movie “The Friends and the Dearest” does not affect honor and does not pass any issues that society rejects.
The film was widely criticized because of what some saw as a departure from the norms and traditions of society, especially since the film adhered to the original Italian text, which the opponents of the film believe is not commensurate with the traditions of eastern societies.
