Cinema
The Black Market
السوق السوداء
Kamal al-Telmessani · 1945
Synopsis
In Cairo, during the Second World War, Hamed and Nagiya love each other and want to marry. The girl's father, Abou Mahmoud, goes into partnership with Sayed the grocer to stockpile goods and resell them on the black market at enormous profits. Hamed opposes these practices; offended, the father decides to give his daughter to Sayed rather than to him. The neighbourhood sees scarcity enrich some and impoverish others.
Context
The film was released on 6 December 1945, from a screenplay by its director and with dialogue and songs by Bayram el-Tounsi. It carries a rawer vision than that of The Will, observes Al Jazeera, and it has been read as a neorealist critique of capitalism. It was a commercial disaster, a few hundred pounds in receipts, and the film remained banned for nearly four years; discouraged, Telmissany turned to commercial films. It ranks thirty-fourth among the hundred best Egyptian films.
Who it is for
A feature film in Arabic, in black and white, of about ninety-five minutes, punctuated by a few songs.
Prizes and reception
A failure on its release, now regarded by critics as a landmark of social realism.