شئ من الخوف
A Taste OF FEAR (1969)
A Taste OF FEAR (1969)
Set in a small Egyptian village under the grip of a man who rules like a feudal despot, extracting compliance and obedience in exchange for survival, A Taste of Fear traces the emotional architecture of authoritarianism. Often read as an allegory of national subjugation, with the fallaha (peasant woman) symbolizing the nation, it also offers a subtler commentary on the line between fear and complicity. What makes the film unforgettable is its anatomy of quiet complicity: how fear becomes ambient, how people learn to breathe it in without noticing. It is less about overt violence than the slow seep of repression into daily life. Watching it is not a history lesson, but a mirror to the present. In a time when authoritarianism wears softer masks, A Taste of Fear feels devastatingly contemporary. It reminds us that regimes metastasize through whispers, not screams, thriving not only in decrees, but in absences and internalized silences. — ZEINAH KALATI
Country of Origin: Egypt
Run Time: 1h 52m
Language: Arabic
Rank in the list: 93rd
Genre(s): Drama
Synopsis
In a rural Egyptian village, Atris rules the people with fear, extorting money and enforcing his will. Since childhood, he has been obsessed with Fouadah, a young woman who bravely defies him by opening a lock he had closed to punish the villagers. Unable to kill her out of love, Atris coerces her father into a false marriage arranged through corrupt witnesses. But the sham union sparks outrage. Sheikh Ibrahim, a respected figure in the village, rises to confront Atris—an act that leads to the death of his own son, Mahmoud, at Atris’s hands. The film reaches its climax at Mahmoud’s funeral, where Sheikh Ibrahim denounces the marriage as invalid. His cry is taken up by the entire village, who finally unite to march against Atris, stripping him of the power he held over them.
Notable Cast and Crew
Hussein Kamal
Director
Shadia
Cast (Fouada)
Mahmoud Moursy
Cast (Atrees)
Yehia Chahine
Cast (Ibrahim)
