A sick doctor is admitted to an isolated sanatorium located in the middle of a desolate desert. As a patient, he becomes aware of the discrepancy that exists between the conditions of the privileged patients, who are well-treated, and the poor ones, who particularly suffer from a lack of water. With the help of the doctor, the poor patients rebel and undertake to restore justice and order in the hospital.
Cinematography
Blistering black-and-white desert shots that scream isolation.
Direction
Saleh's controlled rage, banned in Egypt for decades.
Writing
Dialogue sharp as scalpels, no wasted words.
Director
Tawfiq Saleh
Shoukry Sarhan
الدكتور عزيز
Zizi Mostafa
سعاد - الممرضة
Shafiq Nour ElDein
عم مغلوب - مريض
Tawfiq Al-Deqen
رجب أفندي - صحفي مريض
Hamdy Ahmed
تايب - مريض
Mahmoud Al-Sabaa
رشوان بيه - مدير المصحة
Mohammed Tawfik
الدكتور سعيد
Zouzou Chakib
إخلاص هانم
Kamal Hussein
دكتور كمال
Badr Nofal
أوش الله - مريض
Ahmed ElGezeiry
لطفي أفندي
Eskandar Mansy
وكيل النيابة
Hussain Ismael
عسكري
Ahmed Morsi
عثمان محجوب
Samira Mohsen
نرجس - الممرضة
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Banned in Egypt until 1971, the film was adapted from Ghassan Kanafani's novella—written shortly before his assassination by Mossad in 1972.
Saleh shot in a real abandoned tuberculosis sanatorium; patients' families still living nearby became extras, lending documentary weight to the fiction.
EG
