Summary Of Youssef Chahine's Film Alexandria

The Youssef Chahine film Alexandria… Why? encapsulates various influences from historical, economical, and cultural concepts of WWII era Egypt, and is seen through dialogue of characters and the images on-screen. Chahine’s film followed a boy by the name of Yehia from Alexandria, Egypt, who had a love for acting and American cinema. Yehia’s father wanted him to be an engineer since that was his dream growing up, so naturally, Yehia did not have the easiest of times reaching his dream. Given that this film took place during WWII, his family had to keep pawning their possessions to supply him and his sister with proper schooling, despite their desire for a more extravagant lifestyle. The film closes with Yehia boarded upon a vessel to America, having finally gathered the support of his family to go to America and make something of himself through acting. The film also follows a young British …show more content…
has visible historical influences that affected the film largely due to the fact that the film takes place during WWII. Real events from the past, like which countries were allies and which were enemies, had to be used to ensure historical accuracy for Chahine’s film. As stated in Egypt’s War for Peace, there was a “72-year British presence in Egypt” (Tuttle, 58). WWII fell within this 72-year period and explains the reason for having British soldiers and a British main character in the film. The economy of Egypt during the war was as expected, unhealthy. Employment opportunities and “output per man fell… during the war, [un]til in 1945 [when] it was just over 50 percent” (Hansen and Marzouk, Abstract). This fact is reflected in the film and supports the struggles Yehia’s family went through in Alexandria… Why? as they clearly did not make enough with the far and few law cases Yehia’s father managed to get on. Thus, the family resulted to pawning their belongings all to finance Yehia’s