As prescient in 2011 as it was in the late 1960s, The Land is one of Arabic cinema’s most enduring film classics. This engaging feature details the struggle of a group of peasant farmers in the 1930s to protect their fields and their livelihood against a corrupt pasha (high ranking official) interested only in self-aggrandizement. Adapted by Chahine from a novel published shortly after the abolition of the monarchy by Egypt’s 1952 revolution, The Land offers a full-blooded narrative of political struggle and sweeping nationalist emotions. It is a rallying cry for an Arab world demoralised by the Israeli expansion in the late 1960s.
Presented in association with the Arab Fringe, Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival and FACT, Liverpool.
