Iskanderija... lih? (1979)

Director:

Youssef Chahine

Writers:

Youssef Chahine, Mohsen Zayed

Stars:

Ahmed Zaki, Naglaa Fathy, Farid Shawqi

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ahmed Zaki	...	Ibrahim (as Ahmed Zaky)
Naglaa Fathy	...	Sarah (as Naglaa Fathi)
Farid Shawqi	...	Mohsen's Father (as Farid Chawky)
Mahmoud El-Meliguy	...	Qadry (as Mahmoud El Meligui)
Ezzat El Alaili	...	Shaker (as Ezzat El Alayli)
Youssef Wahby
Yehia Chahine
Leila Fawzi
Mohsena Tewfik	...	(as Mohsena Tawfik)
Akela Kateb
Zeinab Sedky
Seif El Dine	...	(as Seif El Din)
Ahmad Abdel Waress
Abdel Aziz Makhyoun
Gerry Sundquist	...	Thomas 'Tommy' Friskin

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

fire | party | el alamein war cemetery | tears | murder | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Egypt Algeria

Language:

Arabic English

Release Date:

27 February 1980 (France)

Also Known As:

Alexandria... Why?

Company Credits

Production Co:

MISR International Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first of Youssef Chahine's autobiographical films.

---

Connections

Followed by Hadduta misrija (1982)

User Reviews

Sloppy, but often quite good

A dense, difficult, and, unfortunately, sloppy film from Egypt. It deals with a group of characters in Alexandria during (and shortly after) WWII, and is kind of a portrait of an artist type of story. The main character is a teenager, Yehia, an aspiring actor and filmmaker who knows that Alexandria will stifle his creativity if he doesn't get out. He strives to go to England or America. Then there are half a dozen other plotlines running concurrently. All of them are interesting, including a terrorist plot to kidnap Churchill and turn him over to the Nazis when they arrive in the city, a wealthy family that decides to move to Palestine and finds that the land is being occupied by the Jews, and a man who abducts British soldiers and kills them as an act of patriotism, that is until he befriends a particularly innocent-looking one. The movie jumps around breathlessly, and it's almost impossible to follow it completely. Still, there are so many moments of grace and beauty, so many good performances, that I did end up approving of it, if just a little. 7/10.