/Alexandria Why (1978).jpg)
/Alexandria Why.jpg)
Autobiographical film featuring a love affair between an aristocratic Arab nationalist and a young English soldier.
Alexandria... Why?
Original Title
Iskanderija... lih?- Director: Youssef Chahine
- Writer: Youssef Chahine; Mohsen Zayed
- Producer: Raouf Abdel Hadi; Mahmoud Bakr
CGiii Comment
You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a comedy - the farcical acting does nothing to disprove that simple observation. The young male actors are especially inept.
The story - or multitude of stories - becomes an unfathomable muddle...difficult to follow, ear-splitting line delivery....and, running at over 2 hours...the slow build-up of an immense headache is unavoidable.
Chahine was an eminent Egyptian director (in Egypt) - he didn't exactly have much competition - and, his directorial style did improve with age - and, definitely influencing the likes of Hamed's The Yacobian Building [2006).
Nonetheless, it is a brave film - breaking taboo and conservatism - and, surprisingly, relevant now in the surge of the Arab Spring...pity about the bloody awful acting.
No trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
"Yahia", a young man living in the cosmopolitan Alexandria during World War II. Between his dreams, which up to Hollywood and constraints of his life in the middle class trying to be a new Hamlet to be or not to be . Uprising dreams wondering where all new meaning to life amid the horrors of war and life pain.
Cast & Characters
Ahmed Zaki as Ibrahim;
Naglaa Fathy as Sarah;
Farid Shawqi as Mohsen's Father;
Mahmoud El-Meliguy as Qadry;
Ezzat El Alaili as Shaker;
Youssef Wahby;
Yehia Chahine;
Leila Fawzi; Mohsena Tewfik;
Akela Kateb; Zeinab Sedky;
Seif El Dine;
Ahmad Abdel Waress;
Abdel Aziz Makhyoun;
Gerry Sundquist as Thomas 'Tommy' Friskin