City Life - Emirati Film Written and Directed by Ali Mostafa

City of Life

City life is an Emirati film written and directed by Ali Mostafa (Mostafa, 2009). The film focuses on diverse nationalities living in Dubai. In the film, a wealthy young Emirati male, underprivileged Indian taxi driver, and a European couple play major roles in the film’s scenes to illustrate the real life situations faced by the people of Dubai. Throughout the film, several cultural intersections existing in Dubai are highlighted to emphasize the effects of cultural fusion in the lives of the city dwellers. This article focuses on how the film portrays the diverse nationalities of Dubai, and illustrates how the common stereotypes about the people of Dubai have been challenged and confirmed by the film.

After watching the film, I realized that the whole film was shot and directed in Dubai. In the media, films, journals, and magazines, Dubai is portrayed as a flashy city resided by affluent individuals with luxurious hotels, shopping malls, and tourist destinations. Even though these features have been captured in the film, a different perspective of the city has been illustrated in the film to portray the city’s diverse cultures and lifestyles. In the film, I noted that the film’s director has engaged three actors to illustrate the true facets of Dubai’s culture. Through Sonu Sood’s character, the film’s director illustrates that most of the migrant workers, with no skills, live in destitute conditions. In contrast to common believe, the film portrays how migrant workers have to struggle against all odds to survive in the foreign city.

Through the character of the young Emirati male, the film portrays the lifestyles and cultures of the natives. As compared to the migrant workers, most of the natives live in better lifestyle conditions. The native male actor has to make tough decisions. He has to decide whether he should stick to their culture or adopt foreign culture. Through this, the film’s director illustrates the effects of cultural intersections on the Emiratis. Equally, the film’s story focuses on European couple. The British woman has dreams of marrying a wealthy native male. On the other hand, the British man is portrayed as promiscuous individual. Through these scenes, I noted that the film illustrates that Dubai consists of all classes of citizens. In the film, several languages such as English, Arabic, and Hindi have been employed. By doing so, the film’s director