The Nightingale's Prayer: Praise for a Classic

The Nightingale's Prayer (Doa al karawan, 1959) by Henry Barakat stands as one of the greatest works of classic Egyptian cinema. The story, adapted from a novel by Taha Hussein, The Nightingale's Prayer is an epic love story filled with betrayal, tradition and murder.

The story follows Amna, a young, pretty Bedouin girl in Egypt who moves to the city with her mother and sister upon the insistence of her uncle, who wishes the women to escape the tainted name left by their womanizing father. Fascinated by, though fearful of, the city life, Amna and her sister, Hanadi, find jobs as housemaids in separate homes. Hanadi works for a respected engineer who seduces her by making her believe he was in love with her. When their mother learns of this, she notifies their uncle to take the girls back to their village.

However, the uncle has his own plan in mind and murders Hanadi in the desert to hide her sins from the villagers. Filled with rage, Amna returns to the city to find the engineer Hanadi fell in love with. What she finds is a womanizer who has seduced a long line of unsuspecting housemaids. Amna decides to work for the engineer and kill him to avenge her sister. But Amna realizes it is more difficult to murder than her uncle made it seem, and as she grows closer to the engineer (who remains nameless throughout the film) she finds her feelings for him change in a very unexpected way.

In the first half of the film, the story follows a traditional formula of moving from the rural to the city. Like many stories with this setup, the family that moves must change or sacrifice something to adapt into their new environment. The mother refuses to do either and sticks to tradition, while Amna and Hanadi quickly embrace city life. It is unclear what is more to blame for Hanadi's death--the mother's devotion to tradition in notifying her brother-in-law or Hanadi's embrace of sexual freedom--but the devastation that follows indicates that moving from the village to the city is a complex transition.

Following the death of Hanadi, Amna's adventures are just as much a search for revenge as it is an internal struggle. What makes The Nightingale's Prayer so powerful is the richly complex growth and development of its characters. Amna's development from young and naive villager, to fierce and determined avenger, to confused and torn lover is heart-wrenching. Faten Hamama's evocative performance is clearly the highlight of the film.

Also, the film's serves as a preservation of Bedouin culture. There are various scenes that are devoted to portraying traditions, values and practices of the Bedouins. The clash between Egyptian city life and village life is a reminder of the vast diversity that exists in the country.

The Nightingale's Prayer does not shy away from difficult subjects--such as poverty, sex and murder--but unlike contemporary, independent Egyptian films, this is in no way an "agenda" film. Nightingale does not seek to teach its audience a lesson about cultural traditions; it is purely an account of the complexities of love and the many forms it can take.

It may seem trivial to make such a distinction; however, the current independent Arab film industry comes with it a stereotype and expectation to make films that address current political and social issues. While many films do just that, its important to remember a that at one time, cinema in Egypt did resemble the "dream factory" that was Hollywood. In retrospect, a film such as Nightingale may seem to be a reflection on social attitudes towards sex and honor killings among Bedouins, but I feel this is an erroneous statement derived from the West's current obsession with political and social issues in the Arab world.

Overall, The Nightingale's Prayer is a lasting masterpiece of Egyptian film making with a worldwide appeal, while still being rooted in Arab culture and tradition.


Click here to watch a scene from the film. Amna and the Engineer relationship is complicated when the Engineer confesses his love, and Amna confesses her true motives.

Days and Nights: An Example of Classic Egypt

My last post examined a recent Egyptian film filled with stories about various problems affecting contemporary Egypt. To contrast, I am providing some analysis on an older film, the 1955 film by Henry Barakat Days and Nights (Ayyam w layali) starring the legendary Abdel Halim Hafez.


Days and Nights follows a very standard formula for 1950s Egyptian romantic melodramas. A young man falls in love with a beautiful girl, but something about him prevents him from being with her. In this film, it is because he takes the blame for an accident caused by his step brother's drunk driving.

Family, responsibility, dignity, and the dangers of drinking are all prominent themes of the film, which does nothing to hide its moral messages. The dialogue is often very pointed, sometimes even contrived, in communicating the "right" point of view.

In the film, Yehia (Hafez) is a university student whose mother divorced his father because he was a drunk. She remarries to a single father, and then realizes her new husband does not treat her two sons equally, favoring his son over Yehia.

Yehia spots the gorgeous Samia (actress Iman) and the two fall in love. However, Yehia's brother hits and kills a man while driving drunk but refuses to turn himself in, leaving Yehia's best friend to be wrongly accused of the crime. Yehia pleads with his stepfather to do the right thing and tell his brother to confess, but his stepfather demands Yehia stay quiet to repay him for raising him.

Frustrated with the injustices, Yehia seeks out his biological father for advice. Yehia proceeds to confess to the hit-and-run, landing himself in court and causing Samia's mother to forbid her from seeing him. At the last minute, Yehia's mother turns in her stepson and takes back her ex-husband, restoring her family unit.

The story preaches honesty, taking responsibility for one's actions, and respecting family as the basic social unit. However, this is not what the film is "about." Ultimately, it is a romance-musical designed to be a box-office hit with mass appeal. The insertion of so many moral messages is reflexive of cinematic trends of the time. Most classic Egyptian films--like many Hollywood films of the time--reinforced the status quo in society.

With that said, Days and Nights is most notable for its incredible soundtrack, featuring several of Hafez's best songs, such as the timeless ballad "Ana Lak Ala tool." However, this is not to say that it does not push boundaries. The film opens with a birth scene, portraying Yehia's mother laying in bed after giving birth, something that may have been problematic in Hollywood at the time.

In terms of aesthetics, Days and Nights is a perfect example of the majority of classic Egyptian cinema. The film uses a style generally known as Classic Hollywood Realism, which entails narrative-oriented editing with predominantly medium shots. There is no experimental or montage editing and one could say the film "plays it safe" stylistically.

One of the biggest criticisms surrounding popular Egyptian film in the 1950s is that it was essentially trying to copy Hollywood style to recreate its success in Egypt rather than form a unique cinema for itself. I would like to argue against this statement and claim that the themes and genres popular in 1950s Egypt were in fact a reflection of the cultural climate.