When mommy's boy becomes mommy's problem, corruption meets its match in one stubborn cop.
Walid, the son of an important businessman, kills his mother's lover. When his mother turns him in, his father tries to use his influence to get him out of trouble, but a young police officer stands in his way.
Acting
Nour El-Sherif's stubborn cop radiates principled exhaustion.
Direction
El-Tayeb's claustrophobic framing traps everyone in corruption.
Writing
The mother's impossible choice still burns decades later.
Director
Atef El-Tayeb
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of 1980s Egyptian 'realist cinema' wave exposing elite corruption before the 2011 revolution made it mainstream conversation.
Nour El-Sherif and Sherif Mounir would reunite as rivals again; their generational tension here prefigures later collaborations.
EG
