Black Comedy in Arab Drama

Laughter as a Scalpel

Black comedy doesn't ask the viewer to laugh at misery — it asks him to laugh despite fully recognizing it, and that distinction matters. The poor village, the greedy mukhtar, the helpless bureaucrat are all masks for a truth too heavy to state directly.


When weeping fails to tell the truth, comedy takes over the task.

Mamdouh Hamadeh