Qinawi, a physically challenged peddler who makes his living selling newspapers in the central Cairo train station, is obsessed with Hanuma, an attractive young woman who sells drinks. While she jokes with him about a possible relationship, she is actually in love with Abu Siri, a strong and respected porter at the station who is struggling to unionize his fellow workers to combat their boss' exploitative and abusive treatment.
Direction
Chahine's kinetic camera turns a train station into psychological pressure cooker.
Acting
Chahine's own performance as Qinawi is uncomfortably brilliant.
Cinematography
Shadows and steam make Cairo's station a character itself.
Director
Youssef Chahine
Farid Shawqy
Abu Siri
Hind Rostom
Hanuma
Youssef Chahine
Qinawi
Hassan El Baroudy
Madbouli
Abdel Aziz Khalil
Abo Gaber
Ahmed Abaza
Mansour
Essmat Mahmoud
Hussain Ismael
راكب بالقطار
Naima Wasfi
زعيمة منظمة المراة الحرة
Abdel Ghani El Nagdi
مسافر صعيدي
Abdel Hameed Badawy
الشاويش حسنين
Hanaa Abdel Fattah
Lotfi El Hakim
Sayed el Araby
Said Khalil
جاد الله
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Egypt's first Cannes submission and essentially invented Arab art cinema—before this, Egyptian film meant musicals and melodramas.
Chahine cast himself as Qinawi specifically because he wanted to physically embody the outsider status he felt as a queer artist in Nasser's Egypt.
EG
