Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1954 • Egypt
Starring Omar Sharif, Faten Hamama, Zaki Rostom

Omar 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 daughter (Arab screen icon Faten Hamama) of a wealthy landlord (Zaki Rostom) who is intent on destroying the livelihoods of the farmers in his village. Bearing the unmistakable influence of Italian neorealism, THE BLAZING SUN is a landmark of Egyptian social-issue filmmaking that introduced a class-conscious edge to director Youssef Chahine’s work.