Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1969 • Egypt
Starring Mahmoud el-Meliguy, Ezzat el-Alaili, Nagwa Ibrahim
Adapted from a classic novel by Abd al-Rahman Sharqawi, this howl of rage against social injustice is one of director Youssef Chahine’s most influential works, crowned by a career-best performance from its star Mahmoud el-Meliguy. Set in the early 1930s, THE LAND urgently portrays the struggle of rural peasants whose livelihood is threatened by a greedy landlord’s scheme to limit their water supply, showing both the power and limitations of resistance in the face of class exploitation. Composed in vivid, sensuous images and shot through with revolutionary fervor, this landmark of Arab cinema—the inaugural entry in Chahine’s so-dubbed Trilogy of Defeat—is a work of both immense humanism and searing political conviction, informed by the burning sensation of collective failure in the wake of the Six-Day War.
Up Next in Directed by Youssef Chahine
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The Blazing Sun
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1954 • Egypt
Starring Omar Sharif, Faten Hamama, Zaki RostomOmar Sharif makes a striking film debut in this powerful working-class melodrama. He stars as the engineer son of a peasant who finds himself torn between love and land when he begins a romance with the d...
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The Emigrant
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1994 • Egypt
Starring Youssra, Khaled el-Nabawy, Mahmoud HemidaOne of director Youssef Chahine’s most controversial works ignited a firestorm of criticism from both Islamic and Christian voices, who objected to its liberal reinterpretation of the biblical story of...
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The Devil of the Desert
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1954 • Egypt
Starring Omar Sharif, Mariam Fakhr Eddine, Lola SedkyDirector Youssef Chahine’s young discovery Omar Sharif blazes across the screen in this whirlwind swashbuckling adventure. He plays a young bedouin who sets out to overthrow a tyrannical ruler by fi...
