Cairo Station

Qinawi sells newspapers at Cairo's main railway station: lame, poor, and taken seriously by nobody. He is in love with Hanuma, who sells drinks illegally on the platforms; she mocks him and is going to marry Abu Serih, who leads the porters. Qinawi cannot accept it. Youssef Chahine directs and plays Qinawi himself. Hind Rostom plays Hanuma. The structure runs three lines at once: Qinawi's obsession, the porters' attempt to organise a union, and the crowd of the station itself. Chahine holds all three in one location and the station becomes a cross section of a society. It failed on release in Egypt. Audiences rejected it, the box office collapsed and it was withdrawn quickly; Chahine described it as one of the heaviest blows of his career. It was only reassessed decades later and is now counted among the most important films in Arab cinema. Hind Rostom was one of Egypt's biggest stars at the time, and her part here caused an argument for showing female sexuality this openly. It competed at Berlin in 1958. Who it is for: viewers curious about the classics of Arab cinema and about films where social realism meets psychological thriller. Who it is not for: Qinawi's obsession is handled uncomfortably, and the link drawn between disability and violence sits badly now.