The Beginning and the End

The account is set in Cairo at the end of the thirties. The father of a family dies. He was the only one bringing money into the house. The mother and four children are left. Three are sons and one is a daughter. The daughter is called Nefisa. The family struggles not to fall into poverty. But what comes in is next to nothing. Each of them takes a road of their own. One of the brothers keeps up his schooling. One chooses a quick way to money. Nefisa too looks for a way to help the household. The roads they take lead nowhere good. Omar Sharif and Sanaa Gamil take the leads, with Farid Shawqy and Amina Rizk also in the cast, in Salah Abu Seif’s Egyptian film of 1960.