Freely adapted from the novel by Andre Gide, this fascinating and highly-stylized musical tragedy is yet another of Chahine’s moving parables set between the Arab-Israeli wars.

After being imprisoned for political activism for more than a decade, Ali is finally allowed to return to his village home. His family eagerly awaits his arrival, hoping that he will be the one person who dares to stand up against his corrupt elder brother’s ruthless tyranny.

But when Ali is reunited with his family, they hardly recognize him. Prison has so thoroughly crushed his youth and idealism that he now allies himself with the oppressor—yet he remains their only hope.

This film is available with a Digital Site License (DSL), which allows colleges, universities, or libraries to encode, locally host, and stream the film to their community on a closed, password-protected system.

Rental Information
This film is available from AFD for public screenings and television broadcast. For information regarding rental rates and formats, please contact info@arabfilm.com for institutional/non-theatrical screenings, or info@arabfilm.com for theatrical, festival, television, or other bookings.