AllMovie

Separate stories seems to float in and out of the action and dialogue in Al Akmar without ever getting to know each other very well. Three young men from different sides of the tracks are each struggling with their own demons, and a mosque desperately needs architectural rehabilitation. One of the men is a petty thief who chooses to rob a rich woman without knowing that she is the lover of one of his two friends. This friend is very wealthy, but is leading an aimless life, hanging out with the thief and the third person in the trio, a flip taxi driver. The thief conscripts his wealthy friend in his planned robbery, and after drugging the woman, they grab her money -- but she is not totally out of it, and begins a struggle that ends fatally. Meanwhile, the taxi driver has made the mistake of identifying a drug dealer, and pays the unhappy consequences. The thief's mother dies, but that is not going to keep him off the streets. And during their exploits, a woman who is a supposed friend believes her husband did not die in the 1973 war and wreaks havoc on the lives of the three men. While this drama is taking place, the mosque does get rehabilitated.