Egypt

Cinema of Egypt

Early Lumiere films were shown in 1896 at the Alexandria Stock Exchange of Toussoun Pasha; and the first footage shot by an Egyptian was filmed in Alexandria at the Mosque of Abul-Abbas al Mursi in 1907.

Egypt’s most internationally recognized filmmaker also hails from Alexandria: Yussef Chahine.

Born in Alexandria in 1926, Chahine’s film career spans 6 decades and over 40 feature films. Chahine’s long and prolific career can be seen as a wonderful time-capsule of Egyptian society and how it changed (or sometimes did not change) over the decades from regime to regime.

What I love about Chahine’s films is that he shows you slices of society, in what feels like very realistic representations, fully drawn out characters, and though he made so many films, each of his films feels different. Watching Chahine’s repertoire of films from earliest to latest feels like you’re taking a tour of Egypt; through different landscapes of both Upper and Lower Egypt, to different time periods. As Egypt grew, so too did Chahine as a filmmaker and storyteller. He is both proud and critical of his heritage and both elements subtly shines through his films.

The first Chahine film I watched was “The Blazing Sun” from 1954 and it was love at first sight. This was Egyptian born Omar Sharif’s breakout film (followed up by a stellar performance in Chahine’s 1956 “Dark Waters”). Omar Sharif became widely known in Hollywood for his starring roles in “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Dr. Zhivago” and “Funny Girl.” His acting career spanned over 60 years.

In “The Blazing Sun,” Sharif plays the young, hunky Ahmed, the over-achieving son of peasant farmers who manages to successfully grow the #1 sugar cane crop of the season, beating out his father’s boss, the “Pasha.” This means that for the first time ever, the company will buy their crop from the peasants rather than from the rich governor of the land, or Pasha.

This film, shot in gorgeous black and white, compellingly deals with Egyptian class-struggles head on. After all, at the time of release, we’re two years into the new monarchy-free Egypt, where the government initiates land redistribution and agricultural reform policies.

In the film, the peasants are thrilled and celebrate. The Pasha, however, is greedy and wants to destroy the peasants’ crops, which he does with the help of his underling, Riad, his nephew. But the greed doesn’t stop there: the Pasha plots to destroy anyone who gets in his way, including Ahmed’s father, who is framed for the murder of a Sheik. (“Sheik” means a learned man, a distinguished elder of sorts.). Meanwhile, Ahmed and the Pasha’s daughter, who used to play together when they were kids, are in love. The daughter helps Ahmed to clear his father’s name (posthomously, as he is already tried, convicted and hung for the crime he did not commit) only to learn that her own father is not the man she thought he was.

All of the action takes place near Luxor and several scenes were filmed in Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple and at the Valley of the Kings. Hollywood also shot a few films around Luxor, including, the James Bond flick, “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977) and the film adaptations of Agatha Christie’s book, “Death On The Nile,” originally released in 1978 directed by John Guillermin. Decades later, Kenneth Branagh directed a remake of “Death On The Nile,” released in 2022.

The cinema of the 1930s to 1960s, when Egypt was considered the “Hollywood of the Orient,” is considered Egypt’s Golden Age. The films produced during this period rivaled that of the cinema of Europe and America being made at the same time.

In early Egyptian cinema, once sound was introduced, music and cinema formed a perfect marriage in the Egyptian film industry and Egypt became the largest exporter of film and musical content to the Arab world. In 1933, “The White Rose” directed by Muhammad Karim became the first Egyptian musical. It starred the legendary Arab singer, Abdel Wahab. The popularity of the music helped “The White Rose” to become an instant hit and was shown in Arab countries around the world.

Now considered icons of Arab music, singers Um Kulthum, Farid el Atrash, Abdel Hatem and others grew famous through their appearances in these musical films. During WWII, Hollywood productions slumped and it was more difficult to obtain the popular films from Europe and America. As a result, the Egyptian industry boomed, filling the gap by producing films that mimic the European and American cinematic styles.

In Egypt, cinemas were set up in what you could call a pyramid structure: divided into three classes of society. There were first class cinemas, for the wealthy and refined; second class; and third class, which became known as “Cinema Terso.” The third class cinemas created a genre of their own and these B-films grew in popularity due to actors such as Farid Shawk, known as the “King of Terso.” According to Culture Trip, Farid Shawk’s films “represented the masses’ dream of defeating the wealthy.”

By 1952, the start of the Nasser era, the Egyptian film industry was producing an average of fifty films a year. Nasser nationalized the film industry (as he did with many industries in Egypt) and saw cinema, like many of his authoritarian-leaning counterparts around the world, as a tool to manipulate your message. So for a while, at least, cinema flourished under Nasser, but eventually the censors got tighter and tighter and as other world affairs began to take priority, the cinema industry eventually slumped.

Films that were acceptable during Nasser’s years were ones that criticized the former leaders. The same type of films that were banned under the monarchy for such behavior. I see it as no different than one Pharaoh scratching out the cartouches and faces of his predecessors.

The 1957 film, “Rodda Qalbi” (“Back Alive”) was made as a tribute to the 1952 revolution and apparently is still shown on TV every year on the anniversary of the coup, July 23, Egypt’s National Day.

In 1969, Shadi Abdel Salam wrote and directed “Al Mummia,” known in English as “The Night Of Counting The Years,” which the World Cinema Foundation restored in 2009.

When I first watched “Al Mummia,” I confess, I found it to be unbearably slow. But the more I toured Egypt and flitted between Ancient Egypt and modern times, the more I came to appreciate this film.