‘Big Boys Don’t Cry’ Review: Masculinity and Its Constructs Are Explored in a Revealing Docu-Fiction Study of Egyptian Bodybuilders

“Big Boys Don’t Cry” follows director Muhammad Mustapha’s decade-long effort to understand his fascination with extreme muscularity through the lives of Egyptian bodybuilders. The documentary-fiction hybrid examines masculinity as a performance shaped by fear and power, and how imposing physiques can offer working-class men a temporary way to challenge their social subordination.

The film centres on Abdullah Al-Araby, a bodybuilder who works as a bouncer and cultivates a threatening image; he and his friends say they would want to play villains or mob bosses. Its chapters explore performance and the punishing work of maintaining outsized bodies, including a graphic cupping scene. The review finds that the film’s visual fascination is clearer than the men’s verbal reflections, leaving the director’s questions about masculinity only partly answered.