Cairo Station (1958) User Reviews

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[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 6 April 2010]

This Egyptian movie is a miracle in itself.It can appeal to anyone in the world and is as good as any great work of any country.All takes place in a station with a frustrated paper boy,living his life vicariously through pin ups photographs ,the central character .Round him, lots of secondary characters revolve .He seems an outcast ,without any friend,and despised by all the girls around.The work sometimes recalls Jean Renoir's "La Bete Humaine" ,but with more attention to detail.This is a microcosm which the director films with virtuosity (the editing is stunning ) and his story has a ring of sincerity.Chahine once told he put a lot of himself in his pitiful hero.

The movie does not fall easily into a genre:it is a documentary about a station with street hawkers -Hanuma almost got run over while trying to escape from the Police;it is also a political movie ,some of the workers feeling they need an union;it's also a sentimental movie ,a young couple about to be parted -strangely the young girl reappears at the very end of the movie ;it's a thriller ,the scenes in the warehouse compares favorably with Hitchcock and all best film noir directors ;it's finally a movie which almost verges on fantasy and horror ,with a final as impressive as those of "sunset boulevard" or "whatever happened to Baby Jane?"

There's even an embryonic woman's lib! Let's underline the importance of the wide screen ,which makes the director look like an entomologist watching an ant hill with a magnifying glass:"Bab El Hadid" ,it's all this and more.

The station takes the spotlight!

[ashishjoshi-04517 · 7/10 · 29 May 2020]

Egypt's official entry for 'Best Foreign Language Film' at the 31st Academy awards, Cairo Station is director Youssef Chahine's paean to the city he was born in and which influenced much of his later work. Reviled in Egypt by critics and moviegoers alike on its release, the film is now considered among the finest works of its kind. With touches of Hitchcock and Powell, the film tells the story of a crippled news vendor (played by Chahine himself) who is besotted with a beautiful and capricious seller of cold drinks (Hind Rustom). This unhealthy obsession, bordering on the homicidal, leads to a tragic denouement. This misplaced love story, if it can be called that, is played out against the backdrop of the main train station at Cairo. Indeed, more than the players, the station is the focal point of interest of the movie. A cesspool of unceasing human activity, with its fights, petty intrigues, welcomes and tear-stained farewells, the station is the throbbing heart of this vast metropolis which combines comedy and tragedy in equal measure in the stories its citizens live to narrate.

Lot is happening at Cairo station.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 8/10 · 4 November 2010]

This is simply one fine movie because it follows a solid and involving story about simple characters, dealing with only seemingly small problems and frustrations.

This is actually a quite daring movie, from such a religious and strict country such as Egypt, especially for its time of course. Not that there is anything shocking in by any other standards but the main characters is a both mentally as physically handicapped one and the female lead is quite flirtatious and free-minded. Besides, the movie also casually has other themes such as female rights and abuse, not just toward women but also abuse from the bosses of the simple workers and denying them equal rights. But the movie is not preachy about any of these subjects at all and I like I said, it actually only handles it casually as the movie it's main story moves along. And the movie does move quite fast, which is not necessarily due to its pace but more because there is always something happening story-wise, with one of the many characters.

It's all being weaved in quite cleverly and effectively with its main story of the physically challenged peddler, who falls for the very attractive Hanuma, who is way more woman than he ever can handle. It's therefore also an already doomed love-story from the start and luckily the movie also doesn't have a fairy tale type of story.

It's a bit of an old fashioned done sort of movie, with also some unusual acting styles in it but this is what works quite refreshing at the same time. It's always interesting to compare movies from different continents, that got made during the same time period. Every country has its own strongly present culture present and also a different sort of film-making that goes along with it. This movie got made at the time period that is known as the golden age of Egyptian cinema. Many people don't seem to know this but during the '40's and '50's lots of worldwide critically acclaimed movies got made in Egypt, of which this movie is also one.

A great vivid movie, that follows a great story and has some solid characters in it.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Chahine's masterpiece, among the greatest films of all time

[ametaphysicalshark · 10 August 2008]

It's not hard to see why "Cairo Station" was banned for 20 years in Egypt. It gained much recognition in Berlin, being nominated for the Golden Bear and Chahine missing out on the Best Actor prize on a technicality, but in Egypt the audiences, used mostly to the romantic comedies and melodramas Egypt's massive film industry was expected to release, found the film's darkly sexual nature disturbing, and the censors reacted in an even harsher manner. Expectations for the film were probably even further away from the finished product since the film starred Farid Shawqi and Hind Rostom, two big stars of the Egyptian cinema.

Everything you hear about the film from Chahine and from Egyptian film scholars suggest that he put his heart and soul into making this film. If the gritty yet stunningly well-orchestrated visuals don't convince you that's true, then Chahine's passionate, masterful portrayal of the main character surely will. It really is one of the greatest performances of all time, and that's fairly surprising coming from someone who chose to stay behind the camera for most of his long career. There's not a single moment where you don't completely believe the character and the character's motivations and feelings, Chahine is just THAT good.

The storyline itself is nothing to write home about unless you view it within the context of Egypt when the film was released. The film is very reflective of the pent-up frustration that many Egyptians felt (one could even say that inner turmoil of the main character is completely intended as a reflection of Egypt before Nasser took over), and the events surrounding the main plot are hugely reflective of the transition Egypt was going through (in one spectacularly stylized scene Qinawi looks on as rock n' roll is celebrated Egyptian-style inside a train carriage).

There are some brilliant moments throughout the film, but Chahine's handling of the final twenty-odd minutes are beyond brilliant. For one, he handles the change of tone spectacularly well, and his performance certain helps here. It's remarkable to watch a film directed by its star in which the actor's performance and the director's work feel so intrinsically connected- when Chahine the actor is dancing to rock and roll, Chahine the director is wonderfully playful, allowing the camera to move freely and capture the energy and enthusiasm of the scene. When Chahine the actor is at his most vulnerable and sexually obsessive Chahine works the film into a tense, spectacularly well-edited frenzy.

This isn't Chahine's first film, but it is quite possibly Chahine the auteur's first film. Although it contains a fair bit of Lang and a little Hitchcock (it is remarkably similar in its final stages to Hitchcock's "Psycho", which would only come out two years later, even some of the editing is similar), the film is mostly Chahine, looking at Egypt as only he can. "Cairo Station" is a film of remarkable depth, filled with great characters and wonderful performances, and featuring a spectacularly tense score. Beyond all that it is a film of immense technical precision and of unparalleled passion, and it is unquestionably the work of a master. A perfect film, the greatest Arabic-language film ever made, and one that I would personally rank as one of the greatest films made anywhere by anyone.

10/10

A Nutshell Review: Cairo Station

[DICK STEEL · 10/10 · 24 September 2007]

I believe Cairo Station marks my very first experience in watching an Egyptian movie (those television soap operas over the RTM channels when I was younger, don't exactly count). And having the opportunity to watch one made by an acclaimed Egyptian filmmaker, was nothing less than a bonus. What provided the icing on the cake, was that it was shown in 35mm print, and that is precisely the attraction of the World Cinema Series.

I was under the uninformed impression that older, black and white movies, will likely to be paced too slow for my liking, or have stories that are quite bland by today's standards. I was so wrong, and Cairo Station absolutely threw those notions out of my mental window the minute I experienced the first few minutes of it. It has an extremely strong story, sophisticated in that it managed to span multiple threads and had ensemble characters, having so much paced so nicely within its 74 minute runtime, and having them all come together neatly for the finale.

Having the events take place within a single day, it centers around 3 lead characters - Kenawi the newpaper boy (played by the director himself), who walks with a limp and gets discriminate against by the working folks at the train station (hence the English title), Hanuma the sultry, sexy soft drink seller (played by Hind Rostrom) and her beau Abu Sri (Farid Shawqi), a porter at the station who's galvanizing his fellow workers to form a union to fight for better wages and welfare. There you have the female lead in a familiar seductress role, an anti-hero, and the hero himself, caught in a love triangle, which starts to turn Kenawi's jealousy and having his love spurned, into a dangerous obsession.

Sounds like a Hitchcock-ian thriller? You bet! It's a dark movie indeed, one which explores the trappings of a misguided soul and his fetish and fantasies of beautiful pin up models, and because of his inability to express himself properly, gets frustrated and even with his relatively low IQ, starts to scheme to get his desires met. But it's not always all about Kenawi, as having the premise set in one of the busiest train stations, it allows for a number of avenues to introduce simple side stories to enrich the main narrative - every anonymous face in the station, definitely has a story to tell.

And what exactly was in the film that had made audiences back then upset? Well, I could offer a few suggestions, but by today's standards, it has seemed that it's already quite common, be it the water soaked clothing that accentuates a woman's curves, or a folio consisting of various scantily clad pin up models, or the many cleavage bearing shots, or perhaps some dancing and flirting amongst a train full of man, giving them that seductive wink? One wonders, but as with most situations, anyone seemed to have been crossing the boundaries, pushing the envelopes, or revolutionizing the way stories are told, would have met with either accolades for doing so, or unfortunate condemnation like what this film received during its very first screening.

But on hindsight, as always, this movie is nothing short of being remarkable. And having already watched it, I will be watching it again when the film screens once more to the general public on October 5th. Mark your calendars, and experience a world class production that has withstood the test of time - 50 years and counting, is no mean feat!

Central Central Station

[Oslo_Jargo · 10/10 · 7 October 2009]

Youssef Chahine's Cairo: Central Station is a refreshing blend of hidden sexual tension, film-noir and neo-realism from the 1950's. Sexual motifs pop up regularly, including the playful jest of soda bottles and steaming train whistles. Surprisingly, it is free of censorship and restraint for its day, being an Egyptian film. There's even a hint of breasts seen through the wet blouse of a leading lady.

I truly enjoyed the mixture of labor politics and existential crisis for the cripple newspaper vendor (played by the director himself), who craves a beautiful soda selling con-girl, who is an exact mixture of Brigitte Bardot (French actress) and Maria Schneider (Last Tango in Paris). The acting is superb considering most of the people are street performers.

Highly recommended if you can see it at a film festival.

CAIRO STATION (Youssef Chahine, 1958) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 26 January 2014]

This is only the second "Arabic" film I have ever watched; the other one, several years ago, incidentally also emanated from Egypt: AL-MUMMIA aka THE NIGHT OF COUNTING THE YEARS (1969). The reason I have decided to return, all too briefly I might add, to that cinematic territory now is twofold: because I am purposefully catching up with acclaimed movies – the film under review is included in several authoritative "all-time best" polls – and it happened to be the late director Chahine's birthday. Actually, given his relative fame, I was surprised to find out that the only other work of his to be equally referenced was ALEXANDRIA...WHY? (1979) – which is not readily available to me at this juncture – and, for what it is worth, the only other film of his in my collection is the intriguing historical epic, SALADIN AND THE GREAT CRUSADES (1963) – which ought to prove ideal for inclusion in my annual Good Friday marathon. Amazingly, rather than being fêted by his compatriots for competing at that year's Berlin Film Festival (where it lost to WILD STRAWBERRIES [1957]), Chahine suffered the ignominy of having a film-goer spit in his face and the movie itself being banned until being rediscovered in the West 20 years later!

While the generic international title of CAIRO STATION does hint at the two schools of film-making to which the film could belong, i.e. Neo- realism and Film Noir, the original one of BAB EL HADID ("The Iron Gate" or literally "Door Of Iron") crystallizes the social, emotional and psychological trauma afflicting the main character of crippled newspaper-selling tramp Qinawi (an excellent performance by Chahine himself) who haunts the busy railway station lusting after clandestine lemonade seller Hanuma (Hind Rostom) who, however, is betrothed to a burly railroad worker and union man. Qinawi lives in a dingy room at the station that is literally covered with pin-up cut-outs of girls onto which he draws Hanuma's all-important bucket of lemonade bottles. The latter mercilessly leads Qinawi on but does not shirk from laughing in his face when he proposes to elope with her on the eve of her wedding. It is this rejection and imminent event which pushes him over the edge into violent retribution and mental meltdown.

The vivid recreation of the titular environment – with its many animated peddling characters and warring work factions – comes off as crude and chaotic during the film's "Neo-realist" first half but, once it centres on Qinawi and his fateful chasing of Hanuma, it becomes decidedly gripping and rewarding. I knew very little on the film's plot and themes going in and, frankly, I was not expecting things to turn out the way they did; while the railroad setting can be expected to remind one instantly of Jean Renoir's LA BETE HUMAINE (1938) and Fritz Lang's noir remake HUMAN DESIRE (1954), it was the surprising Hitchcockian (the knifing of the wrong girl whose body is being carried throughout the station in a trunk that leaks blood and almost topples open at one point) and Buñuelian (not just the fact that Rostom looks a lot like Lilia Prado but also Qinawi's obsession over her and a one-off display of foot-fetishism displayed at a much younger girl) elements which jumped out at me. Of course, I could not help recognizing several words in the dialogue - most effectively during the climactic cries of "Sikkina...sikkina" ("knife...knife) - given the Arabic language's semantic similarities with the Maltese one.

YASSSSSSS.

[yuma310 · 9/10 · 5 July 2019]

Well this right here is my idea of filmic excellence.

Set in a bustling train station in 1950s Cairo, it transcends its setting to tell a thoroughly engaging story. The director is like an anthropologist who is at once knowledgeable about how the characters and their situations are wholly peculiar to 1950s Cairo, and at the same time fully aware of how their stories and struggles are undeniably universal. At times the film flirts with romantic melodrama with its central love triangle. At other times it feels like a slice of classic Cinema Verite in its almost documentary-like rovings around the lower classes who make their living at the station. But at its core, it's nothing but an early psychological thriller about love and obsession (which, as a shot near the end emphasizes, can perhaps be seen as two sides of the same coin).

Made some sixty years after the Lumiere brothers filmed The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, it's hard to imagine that those early film pioneers would be anything less than impressed with what the art had become in the hands of this Egyptian storyteller. And sixty years after Bab El Hadid (aka Cairo Station), it's still hard to imagine a more enjoyable movie being set in a train station.

Calling any movie one of the greatest of all time is a vacuous epithet that ignores the subjective nature of enjoyment. That said, I can definitely see where those reviewers who call Cairo Station one of the "greatest of all time" are coming from.

Exotic Pervy Period Piece

[kinchomatto · 6/10 · 8 November 2021]

Categorized as Film Noir Gem by Netflix, I found Cairo Station to be at the remote fringe of the genre. At best, tightened up to 20 minutes, it might have made a quirky side story to a classic Film Noir such as Casablanca. Seeing that it is shown in its original Arabic (with English subtitles), I feel lends some credence to the cultural authenticity of the dialogue and that the choice of dramatic subject (no spoilers here) must have resonated with the Arab world at the time it was released in 1958... but honestly, I'm far from an expert on Arab Cinema of this era. If not for these assumptions, lending some suspected value as a cultural time capsule artifact, I would only have rated it 5 Stars. One aspect particularly curious was the film's depiction of American/ Western influence on the youth of Egypt.

An interesting story because it is a rare film in which the audience might find themselves applauding murder!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 9 March 2017]

"Cairo Station" is a very sad film...there's no getting around that. The story is tragic and when the film ends, you'll likely feel a bit drained...so don't day I didn't warn you. But I am not saying to avoid this Egyptian flick...it's well worth seeing.

The story begins with Madbouli introducing the film and explaining how me met and befriended Qinawi*. Qinawi was a poor guy with a limp without a friend in the world...so he adopted him and helped set him up at the train station selling newspapers. What follows for much of the film is showing the plight of all the many workers at the station-- the porters, women who work there illegally selling drinks and the rest. They get paid next to nothing and life is very, very hard.

About midway through the story, Qinawi approaches Hanouma and proposes to her. But he's poor, limps and seems a bit slow intellectually...and Hanouma is an obnoxious pig. So she laughs at him and belittles him for proposing to her! Qinawi is crushed...and soon has murder on his mind. Here is where it gets interesting because although everyone watching the picture knows murder is wrong, within many or perhaps most watching the film, there is a part of them that wants to see the coarse and horrid Hanouma die! This reminds me of the great 1944 film, "The Suspect"...where the audience naturally cheers for the leading man to kill and hopes he gets away with it!! I don't want to say more...other than the plan does NOT go as Qinawi hoped...and ends on a very sad note.

The film has a good story but there are other interesting things going for it. The camera-work is pretty amazing...especially coming from a nation not known for filmmaking. Many of the scenes have an almost film noir style to them with the lighting and camera angles. And, the film is rather daring--especially choosing to make the movie about folks near the bottom of society. Worth seeing.

*Like many films not in English and from countries with non-Western alphabets, there is no one way to spell the characters' names. The subtitles call him Qinawi and IMDb Kinawi...both are correct.

Review - Bab el hadid

[Maxence_G · 7/10 · 27 November 2020]

Cairo Station is a good try at making an Egyptian film-noir but is different in many ways.

The film has a pessimistic look at masculinity as if it said that men are inherently flawed. On the first degree, this is symbolized by Qinawi's obsession with American actress photographs. On the second degree, it is symbolized by Qinawi's physical handicap.

I think that it is a difficult movie to evaluate. Despite its extraordinary prophetic and progressist value (for 1950s Egypt), the film, due to the short runtime has some problems with its second act.

The old version of the Taxi Driver

[montana_adad · 8/10 · 26 December 2019]

This movie is one of the good movies that represent Travis in the Taxi Driver.

Bab el Hadid (Cairo Station)

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 26 April 2018]

I read more about this Egyptian film after finding it in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was selected as the Egyptian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, but it did not make the final nominations, so I was more intrigued to watch it. Basically newsstand owner Madbouli (Hassan el Baroudi) takes pity on physically challenged peddler Qinawi (Youssef Chahine, also directing). He is given a job selling newspapers in the Cairo train station, but he is shunned by all the women there because of his mild handicap, although he has little trouble walking. Qinawi becomes obsessed with beautiful cold drink vendor Hannuma (Hind Rostom), but she is already engaged to husky luggage porter Abu Siri (Farid Shawqi), who is trying to organise a protest with his fellow workers against exploiting and abusive treatment from the manager. Hannuma treats Qinawi sympathetically, and makes a joke about a possible relationship, this prompts him to propose to her. He has fantasies about a home and family with her, but Hannuma rejects him, and Qinawi's obsession with her turns into madness. Qinawi reads a story in the newspapers about an unsolved murder, he is inspired to buy a knife and plots to kill Hannuma. Local policemen are trying to catch Hannuma and the other women illegally selling drinks, she asks Qinawi to take and hide her incriminating drink bucket. Qinawi seeks to lure her into a warehouse to pick up the bucket, but instead she asks a friend to get it instead. In the darkness, Qinawi is unaware that a different woman comes into the warehouse, he stabs her repeatedly, hides the body in a wooden crate. Qinawi gets Abu Siri to put the crate aboard a train, but the woman inside it is not dead, she is found, and the station is alerted. The workers Abu Siri tried to form a union with at first try to blame the attempted murder on him, but the would-be victim identifies the assailant. Meanwhile, unaware of her near-death escape, Hannuma goes to the warehouse to get her bucket. Qinawi chases her through the rail yard and catches her, he holds a knife to her head to keep a crowd of people away. The newsstand owner tells Qinawi that he will be allowed to marry Hannuma, he coaxes him into putting on what he thinks is a wedding garment. Qinawi then realizes he has been put into a straitjacket, he struggles, but is taken away by the authorities. It is the story of a disabled man with a deluded affection is driven to insanity, I thought it was going to a simple sad tale of a love story that can never be, but it turned dark, and the use of the location was great, I really liked it, a most interesting drama. Very good!

Dark character-driven film with psychosexual undertones

[chaos-rampant · 19 September 2009]

I don't really agree with certain circles who claim Cairo Station "one of the greatest films ever made" but it's a neat little film. It has that very basic, almost primitive, shooting style and editing which in some ways reminds of me Greek romance melodramas from the same time yet the perverse content sets it worlds apart from that kind of populist cinema which I suspect was as popular with lower/middle-class audiences in Egypt as it was in Greece. I liked that Chahine makes the titular railway station a stage for contrast between the old and the new. Between fashionable swinging Egyptians and the traditional Muslim conservatives. Between a lady president dressed in a modern pantsuit and destitute girls selling soda to the passengers. Between the old feudal faction of porters and the new one trying to assert its working rights by forming a union. This sociopolitical contrast touching on contemporary changes in Egyptian society (which, other than what the movie presents, I know nothing about but seem to be almost identical with the anxieties that surfaced in Greek screwball comedies of the same time) reflected in the movie itself, out of a typical melodrama of thwarted love Chahine dragging a dark noirish thriller with psychosexual undertones and an almost slasher-like turn in the third act replete with knife-wielding crazies chasing beautiful women that predates Psycho by a good two years. In borrowing the generic aspects of a programme picture for his character-driven piece and portraying his mentally imbalanced protagonist with sympathy and humanity, Chahine made a movie more wholesome than its 73 minute duration would suggest.

Long live Egypt 🇪🇬

[hadysamir85 · 10/10 · 24 June 2020]

I'm still watching it although I watched it more than 20 times . Every scene has a meaningful story and conversation and this what distinguishes this movie till nowadays.

A true masterpiece ! Deserves every award on Earth !

[basmalarefaat-66779 · 10/10 · 20 February 2023]

The character of Qinawi seems to be greatly similar to the myth of Oedipus, both were disabled, and their eyes had lust for what was forbidden to them. The movie begins with a tragic music, indicating the sadness in the movie, then turns to a wedding music, indicating the wedding of Hanooma and Abo Serie, then returns again to sadness.

The contrasts were pretty focused on by the director who was also playing the character Qinawi, Every frame indicates something, like that frame that included Qinawi and the statue of Ramsees II, who loved a woman and ordered for a building about her, with her dress that was transparent just like Hanooma's dress in a shot.

A true masterpiece!

Cairo Station

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 19 June 2023]

This is quite a good, multi-layered romantic drama set around the bustling environment of 1950's Cairo railway station. "Hanuma" (Hind Rustum) is the drinks seller whom "Qinawi" (director, Youssef Chahine) has a serious crush on. Snag for him is that she has her eyes on the burly porter "Abu Siri" (Farid Shawqi) who is also a bit of an activist - trying to galvanise the chaotic and easily scared staff at the station to face up to their greedy, conniving boss. It's got to be said that the way the women are treated is tough to watch 60 years on; but, oddly enough, that lends to the authenticity of the prevailing culture that gives the film some of it's edge. The acting is good; though the dialogue way too wordy - the direction is tight and conveys all the hectic, rushed way of life for all concerned whilst gently managing the menace as things take a much more dark (and sexually pervasive) series of turns. No point imposing 2020s attitudes on it - it is what it is, and that isn't at all bad if you remember that.

Solid and exciting, if rough around the edges

[I_Ailurophile · 8/10 · 21 August 2021]

'Cairo Station' wastes no time at all, as "news agent" Madbouli (Hassan el Baroudi) immediately imparts narration that launches the narrative. From there the setting and characters are firmly established: laborers in and around the indicated train depot, struggling with hard work, low pay, and sometimes dangerous conditions. This foundation alone is ripe with storytelling possibilities, but the film-makers hone in on a few particular characters to tell weave a decidedly dark tale of obsession.

There are obvious underlying themes of labor rights and collective action, and gender violence. Less plain but still more significant are focuses on toxic masculinity and perceived entitlement to sexual gratification - all too ageless problems that didn't truly begin to come to the forefront as universal social ills until at least a few decades after 'Cairo Station' premiered. It feels important to also mention content warnings for ableism, sexism, and animal cruelty. This is a particularly unpleasant crime drama, and the cultural tenor at the time doesn't necessarily convey just how grim it ultimately is.

The writing feels a little bit uneven, especially where the characters are concerned. Dubious Qinawa and major supporting character Abu-Serih are given rather static personalities - the latter temperamental and strong-headed, the former creepy and unwell. Actors Youssef Chahine and Farid Shawqi (Qinawa and Abu-Serih, respectively) are to be given credit for injecting these characters with as much liveliness and nuance as they do, because I don't feel like writers Mohamed Abu Youssef and Abdel Hay Adib made them very complete. The character of Hanouma, meanwhile, is a little bit all over the place: at times she seems too kind-hearted for her own good, and deceitful at others; playful, and demanding; well-meaning, and cruel. If nothing else, it's certainly true that Hind Rustum gives a great performance in that prominent role, and whatever the personality given to Hanouma in the writing at a particular moment, she holds the picture steady with admirable vigor and range.

There's also a subplot - more like a C-plot - that is at most a tertiary concern of the movie. It ties in only very loosely with the thematic bent of the narrative, and its inclusion just feels kind of weird and overall out of place.

Yet the unfortunate deficiencies don't wholly ruin our enjoyment. Costume design, blood effects, and makeup are swell. While the characters aren't necessarily developed well, the central plot is rather solid. Tensions slowly roll forward throughout, until building to a sudden, terrible, thrilling crescendo in the final length. Chahine doubles as both star and director, and behind the camera he orchestrates some excellent, riveting scenes, and a few particularly eye-catching shots. All of 'Cairo Station' is quite engaging, but the darker the story turns, the more inescapably engrossing it becomes.

I don't think it's entirely perfect, but there's no question it's generally a well-rounded, very well made feature. Rough though the characters may be, in them and the broad thrust of the narrative one can discern a certain similarity to film noir, a sense echoed in the notably fast pace of these 76 minutes. Themes and content may broach unwelcome topical areas for some viewers, yet at large 'Cairo Station' is a very entertaining, solid crime drama. I'd have no qualms recommending this to just about anyone - more than 60 years later, it holds up pretty darn well.

Revolutionary Cairo

[ricardojorgeramalho · 8/10 · 30 December 2022]

This is a surprising film that can only be understood in light of the exceptional historical moment that Egypt was experiencing at the time, with Nasser at the height of his popularity and the euphoria of a growing socialism that would never really take hold in the country.

In this film, where influences from Italian neo-realism are notorious, unions are formed, rock and roll is danced in the Western way, women are free and not afraid to show and use their sensuality and there is even a feminist movement against the wedding.

No wonder the film was banned in its own country for decades.

A fundamental work on several levels.

Chahine Excels as Actor & Director

[rak-27003 · 8/10 · 29 July 2022]

An Egyptian b&w drama by the acclaimed Egyptian actor/producer/director, Youssef Chahine. The film is listed as the 2nd from the top of the list of the "Top 100 Egyptian films of the 20th Century".

The events of the movie are set in the Cairo Train Station and it concerns the subculture of station men and women who haul luggage and sell refreshments and periodicals to travelers, and operate out of shacks and abandoned old railroad cars. Chahine is Kinawi, a mentally unstable and lame newspaper seller that has a wild psychosexual obsession with illegal cold drinks vendor, Hanouma (played by Hind Rostom). Hanouma is engaged to Abou Seri' (played by Faris Shawqi) a porter and trade union organiser. The story includes a murder.

The film was entered in the Berlin International Festival, and as the Egyptian entry for the Best Foreign Film Language Film at the Academy Awards.

The film has been hailed by international movie watchers as a masterpiece in the style of neorealist cinema. Themes depicted in the film include the urban working class, gender-based violence, and sexual repression, and Union issues.

Chahine plays Kinawai's role to perfection. Excellent acting. Chahine also directed the movie.

It is worth watching the film to see Chahine's performance.

The film is on YouTube where it includes English subtitles.

Just like a Yesilcam movie

[fsevdecoskun · 9/10 · 11 November 2019]

What I realized in Cairo Station was the extreme agitation that each character possesses. Qinawi is not only homeless and very poor, but also lame and naive. He is so lonely in terms that he is almost obsessed with certain parts of woman such as their feed or legs. He is so passive and ineffective in his life as if he is streaming in someone else's life. Madbouli is extremely religious that he thinks Qinawi must have been mad when he attempts to murder the other girls supposing she was Hanuma. He always speaks with the name of God and he may be the only one who actually loves Qinawi beyond having a pity towards him. Hanuma is extremely unfortunate, though beautiful, reminding me Turkan Soray, and honorable in a way that she struggles with Qinawi in their first encountering to protect her rectitude. To me, everything was in excess in this film and characters were exaggerated in a way that I even questioned the realism of this film at certain points. Such extremes reminded me Turkish melodramas full of disabled characters.

The 1950s in Egypt

[Aziz24 · 8/10 · 28 March 2024]

Rating: 8/10 Watched on March 27th 2024 (first watch) Format: Home TV

An amazing portray of Egypt's 1950s and specifically the Cairo train Station.

The film touches on many topics like poverty, jealousy, simplicity, and revenge.

Hind Rustum shines as the pretty girl who sells drinks in a train station and plays the women that everyone looks at because of her beauty. On the other hand, Youssef Chahine (who's also the director of the film) as the poor Qinawi who sells newspapers and hopes for a better life with the women he's into, was an unfortunate acting choice. He's very dull and most importantly does not represent poverty, revenge, and jealousy that Qinawi suffers from accurately. Moreover, his character needed more in depth view and perhaps more dialogues but in my opinion that still wouldn't have saved or changed anything as someome else should've played the role of Qinawi.

The film's short runtime was a great choice because the story itself doesn't require any longer runtime as it would've resulted in many boring sequences. The film's second half really picks up and focuses more on the sensitive topics as it makes the story very interesting and leads to an ending that fits with every character.