A Man in Our House is about a young man who assassinates the Egyptian Prime Minister. The part is played by actor Omar Sharif. Ibrahim Hamdy is a politically active student whose brother dies when the Egyptian government sends people to stop a student protest against it. After Ibrahim kills the Prime Minister, he is arrested; but when he becomes ill and is sent to the hospital, he is able to escape. After escaping, he stays with a fellow student’s family in their apartment. He feels safe there, because the family has never been politically active and the government will not think to search for him there.
While he is staying with this family the youngest daughter, Nawal, falls in love with Ibrahim, and he with her. The family risks their lives to keep Ibrahim safe, knowing that the government will punish anyone who helps him with at least 3 years in prison. Meanwhile, Ibrahim learns what it means to be loved by a family, and he says that he has “liven an entire lifetime while staying with them” (or something to that effect). But Ibrahim is worried about the family’s safety, so he escapes as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Nawal and Ibrahim promise each other to stay in contact. I will not tell you the ending, because it is a movie that everyone should watch if possible!
I found this film quite eye-opening. It is a black-and-white film, and if it had not been for the English subtitle, one would have assumed that this was a classic Hollywood film. The dress, acting, and even much of the décor in the movie all resembled Hollywood. The film was touching, and I would recommend it to grades 10 through the first two years of college (and anyone after that, too!).
Here is a clip from the movie! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-10uV1jXkg
Thanks for the clip. It was fascinating to watch Omar Sharif in this -- I know him so well from "Dr. Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia," though here he was so much younger. The street scene was also interesting, as was the whole style of production. I liked reading the viewer comments below, at least those in English. I don't know a lot about the Egyptian film industry...
ReplyDeleteI love black and white films and this sounds like a very interesting one. I am excited to watch it and I will give you more feedback after! From your description it seems to have some similarities to Aunt Safiyya!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting clip thanks for sharing!! I could definitely see some of the things that the website talked about in reference to early Arabic film!!
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