Set in the 1930s and based on the 1954 novel by Abdelrahman al-Sharqawy, The Land tells the story of an unnamed rural village in Egypt whose peasants struggle to water their land with the limited water supply imposed by the government and facilitated by the corrupt Omda (unelected mayor). The film opens with a close-up of its protagonist, Mohamed Abu Sweilam (Mahmoud El-Meleigy, in what is arguably his most memorable role), holding his crop, panning to his disappointed face at the limited resources his land has. From the start, Chahine ties Abu Sweilam to the land – immediately sealing his fate.

Throughout the film, we see parallels through the characters and their transformations to the Egyptian historical narrative and struggle. Abu Sweilam’s daughter Wassifa (Nagwa Ibrahim) is shown as the most special girl in the village and a clear representation of Egypt. At the start of the film, she is obsessed with leaving the village and going to Cairo for its luxuries – a nod to disconnecting from the land and embracing modernity. We also see her in a love triangle between Abdelhady (Ezzat al-Alayly), a simple, but loyal and dedicated land laborer who closely resembles a young version of her father, and Mohamed Affendi (Hamdy Ahmed), a Cairo-educated neighbor who represents detachment from the land. As the plot thickens, we see her slowly abandoning her urban dreams and joining the struggle to protect her land and support her father….READ MORE — ROWAN EL SHIMI