Product Details

• Actors: Ahmed Zaki, Farid Shawqi, Naglaa Fathy, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Ezzat El Alaili
• Directors: Youssef Chahine
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Arabic, English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• DVD Release Date: August 14, 2000
• Run Time: 133 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004TX0R
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,515 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #6 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Country > Egypt
  #18 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Country > Middle East

• For more information about "Alexandria...Why?" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Set in the Egypt during and after World War II, Youssef Chahine's autobiographical drama of his youth in Cairo is a bright, bustling mosaic of a country embroiled in conflict and struggling with its identity. Centered on the story of high school student Yehia Mourad (Mohsen Mohiedine), Chahine's cinematic alter ego, it's national history through a personal perspective and the first film autobiography ever in Egyptian cinema. As the strains of nationalism set Arabs against British soldiers, political factions against one another, and races and cultures at odds, Yehia escapes through theater and the movies, dreaming of Hollywood as he stages his own plays and theatrical reviews until he's swept up in student activism. No stranger to challenging conventions and taboos, Chahine features an interfaith romance between a Jewish woman and a Muslim activist and a homosexual relationship between Yehia's wealthy uncle and a young British soldier among his many stories. In fact, he packs the film so full that the colors threaten to bleed together, but Chahine masterfully keeps the film coherent and clear while driving it forward at a racing pace. The action at times abruptly jumps from one thread to another, as if matching Yehia's torn loyalties between art and political action, but the tonal shifts only add another layer of richness to the passion Chahine has lavished on this film. It won the Special Jury Prize at Berlin in 1979 (Chahine's first major festival prize), and was followed by two other autobiographical films, An Egyptian Story and Alexandria Again and Forever, which became known as the Alexandria Trilogy. --Sean Axmaker

From the Back Cover
Set against the panoramic backdrop of war-torn Egypt, director Youssef Chahine tells a highly personal tale of love and determination. Amid the poverty, death and suffering caused by World War II, 18 year-old Yehia, retreats into a private world of fantasy and longing. Obsessed with Hollywood, he dreams of one day studying filmmaking in America, but after falling in love and discovering the lies of European occupation, Yehia profoundly reevaluates his identity and allegiances.

The first chapter of Chahine's Alexandria Trilogy: Alexandria...Why?, An Egyptian Story and Alexandria Again and Forever.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better understanding to chahine , a new look to the world, June 4, 2001

By	"looost" (cairo Egypt) - See all my reviews

this movie really affects the way i watched later movies for chahine ,being his best autobiographical film ; it makes u feel this unique director more in his moments of glourious success and pitiful failures ,and u will really get surprised when u know that this 1979 film , got best solutions for many of the area political problems ,predicting the future is most of the time a gift that chahine give to you during his movie . May be it is chahine's most heart touching movie

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ALEXANDRIA . . . WHY?, October 16, 2001

By	Michael Anthony Brenton (The Other Side of the Known Universe) - See all my reviews

"Alexandria...Why?" is the first film in Egyptian director YOUSSEF CHANINE's exquisite ALEXANDRIA trilogy. This is a drama about a BANK CLERK who dreams of coming to AMERICAN to find fame and fortune. But as Rommel's army approachs at the height of World War II, the young man struggles with issues of NATIONAL IDENTITY as well as of PERSONAL FREEDOM! This autobiographical film was the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival! You two will be impressed by Chahine's intensely personal filmmaking! Once you have seen this film be sure to check out the rest of the TRILOGY with "An Egyptian Story" and "Alexandria Again and Forever"!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alexandria... Why?, June 5, 2001

By	M. Eldaly - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well actually the correct English translation should be "Why Alexandria.." This film depicts a time when the world seemed to pivot on one point , one place Alexandria, just prior to Rommell's last stand at Alamein. You could argue as Chahine the director has that our lives now are spin offs of that moment.He certainly was ,and I certainly am. I have a personal attachment to this film being one the extras in a scene at Victoria College. (I was a student there during filming.) The characters are real, Chahine's family,acquaintances and the diaspora from Alexandria that are now all over the world. He captures in this film the passive cynicism of the Egyptian who is watching history roll along, who is faced with a new life elswhere; with his final departure to America. This symbolizes a departure to the future , to a new way of living, different from the struggles of thousands of years of battles. A non violent existence eminating from a climactic battle in the empty desert. He also shows the all encompassing effect of Hollywood on world culture that still lives with us now, I respect Chahine for his passive cynicism of himself above all.