WATCH YOUR FAVORITE
MOVIES & TV SERIES ONLINE
TRY FREE TRIAL
Home > Drama >

Alexandria… Why?

Watch Alexandria… Why? For Free

Alexandria… Why?

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 studying filmmaking in America but struggles to pursue his dream, given the constraints of his life in the middle class and the horrors of war.

... more
Release : 1979
Rating : 7.3
Studio : MISR International Films,  Algerian Television, 
Crew : Production Design,  Set Decoration, 
Cast : Mohsen Mohey ElDein Mahmoud El Meligy Mohsena Tawfiq Abdullah Mahmoud Ahmed Zaki
Genre : Drama War

Cast List

Related Movies

Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Hunt for the Wilderpeople   2016

Release Date: 
2016

Rating: 7.8

genres: 
Adventure  /  Drama  /  Comedy
Stars: 
Sam Neill  /  Julian Dennison  /  Rima Te Wiata
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
The Last Black Man in San Francisco

The Last Black Man in San Francisco   2019

Release Date: 
2019

Rating: 7.3

genres: 
Drama
Stars: 
Jimmie Fails  /  Jonathan Majors  /  Rob Morgan
Casablanca
Casablanca

Casablanca   1943

Release Date: 
1943

Rating: 8.5

genres: 
Drama  /  Romance
Stars: 
Humphrey Bogart  /  Ingrid Bergman  /  Paul Henreid
Barton Fink
Barton Fink

Barton Fink   1991

Release Date: 
1991

Rating: 7.6

genres: 
Drama  /  Comedy
Stars: 
John Turturro  /  John Goodman  /  Judy Davis
Everything Is Illuminated
Everything Is Illuminated

Everything Is Illuminated   2005

Release Date: 
2005

Rating: 7.4

genres: 
Drama  /  Comedy
Stars: 
Elijah Wood  /  Eugene Hutz  /  Boris Leskin
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude   1971

Release Date: 
1971

Rating: 7.9

genres: 
Drama  /  Comedy  /  Romance
Stars: 
Ruth Gordon  /  Bud Cort  /  Vivian Pickles
Mala Noche
Mala Noche

Mala Noche   1988

Release Date: 
1988

Rating: 6.5

genres: 
Drama
Stars: 
Gus Van Sant
Sophie and the Rising Sun
Sophie and the Rising Sun

Sophie and the Rising Sun   2016

Release Date: 
2016

Rating: 6.6

genres: 
Drama
Karmouz War
Karmouz War

Karmouz War   2018

Release Date: 
2018

Rating: 5.6

genres: 
Drama  /  Action  /  War
Stars: 
Scott Adkins  /  Amir Karara  /  Mahmoud Hemida
Adam & Henry Adventures
Adam & Henry Adventures

Adam & Henry Adventures   2023

Release Date: 
2023

Rating: 10

genres: 
Adventure  /  Drama  /  Comedy
Caught
Caught

Caught   2011

Release Date: 
2011

Rating: 6.9

genres: 
Drama
Open
Open

Open   2010

Release Date: 
2010

Rating: 5

genres: 
Fantasy  /  Drama  /  Romance

Reviews

InspireGato
2018/08/30

Film Perfection

More
Baseshment
2018/08/30

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

More
Verity Robins
2018/08/30

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

More
Kaydan Christian
2018/08/30

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

More
Andres Salama
2014/07/20

The movie starts with black-and-white stock footage of Rommel's desert advance towards Alexandria in World War II. Mohsen Mohieddin plays Yehia, Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's teenage alter ego, avidly daydreaming Hollywood musical comedies to block out family drama and wartime trauma. His extended family, always fighting for the most trivial causes, hangs on to a facade of elegance while living on top of a cabaret. The young protagonist performs Shakespeare at his English school and yearns working in Hollywood. He stages mock musical revues and arranges impudent skit shows. Meanwhile, in Alexandria, the approaching Nazis are viewed as a welcome change in oppressor, Egyptian nationalists hatch a silly plot to capture Churchill and British soldiers become the main article of contraband, trafficked among rebels for assassination potential. Mohieddin's rich uncle buys a young Brit (Gerry Sundquist) and falls in love with him. A Muslim Communist (Ahmed Zaki) and his Jewish girlfriend (famous Egyptian actress Naglaa Fathi) are more successful in bridging the various frantic tensions, even as her aged father prophesizes an increased American military presence in the region after the war to "protect the oil."Examining identity both personal and cultural, the filmmaker directs the final laugh at himself, as his eager alter-ego finally crosses the Atlantic to be greeted by a winking Statue of Liberty. Youssef Chahine's love for his hometown of Alexandria is as fervidly distinctive as Fellini's love for Rome. Comparisons to the oeuvre of the Alexandria- based Greek poet Constantin Cavafis are also profitable. Among the movie's weak spots: it's too long, and with its many plots, it is sometimes sloppy. Also Chahine had obviously a very low budget at his disposal, which shows. Perfidia, the Latin classic, is heard several times on the movie as a sort of leitmotif.

More
Allan Khaleel
2008/01/06

I love this movie simply because every time i watch it, i can see myself, my life and my family in every scene. I can see my depression and my dreams, how hard it was to commence a dream and how much it took to start. I can see my parents waving. I can see my sister in Beirut while the war started and we try the best to get her out. I can see how my parents managed to save every penny to send me here to study what I want. I can see my poring job and my girl, my friends and how we became apart. In short this movie is all about me. My roots in Alexandria. I miss it very much. I have been here over two years now. But I am sure I will be back one day.

More
Ahmed Khaled
2007/12/03

Yussef is one of the masters of Egyptian Cinema, and I think he got himself a good reputation abroad, specially in France and Russia. He was always criminally ignored by Hollywood, though he studied Cine art in NY. However, he developed this Fellini complex recently. He keeps talking about his youth, his sexual complexes, his relations with parents, his study of Cinema, conflicts with the totalitarian governments.. etc. Yussef comes from a very marginal society in Alexandria, being Catholic (most of Egyptian Christians are Orthodox), from a fairly rich family, being educated at Victoria college. Till now his Arabic language is not perfect. From this marginal area he tries to give us a very complex panorama of the Egyptian society during WW II, when Germans were about to conquer Alexandria, and the British were about to flee. Some Egyptians thought that Romel would be their liberator from the British occupation. Here, you find a complete mess from Egyptian Islamists (Muslim brothers), Jews, communists, aristocrats, Catholics, British soldiers, Nazis ... etc... Very complex that U spend 1 hour trying to figure anything... U got only 3 seconds for every character to understand his attitude and problem. Then, in the second hour, things get better and U begin to appreciate this director. The movie gets emotion and U care for characters...The final shot shows Miss Liberty while the young man stands on board on his way to US to study Cine art. Then we see Miss Liberty's face closer and we discover it's the face of a prostitute heavily covered with make-up, and she laughs loudly and obscenely. This summarizes his memories about his USA experience. Americans won't like this scene, but they will like it in East Europe and Russia. My opinion is that Mr Shahin is a genius film director, but is a very bad script writer. However, it's impossible to convince him otherwise because he has always done what he thought was right, and he is 80 now ... No hope for change !

More
Tilly Gokbudak
2005/03/21

I was quite impressed with "Alexandria, Why?" It is just the second film I've seen from Egyptian master Youssef Chahine, but I can already see why many scholars have praised his work tremendously. This film captures both its' time and setting quite eloquently. It is clearly inspired by Italian neo-realism and uses dubbing as many Italian films of the yesteryear have so often done. The film is perhaps an autobiographical one as it depicts a young man in World War II Egypt who wants to immigrate to California and become a filmmaker. I sense the reason this film is so rated so poorly here is because it has a production value which is very minimal in scale. You realize that many shots are shot in a studio and backdrops, particularly ones with the Meditterranean shore, are ones from stock footage. This is something which is more often in B-movies from the '60s here. But, I am sure this was due to inherent financial limitations which Chahine had too work around. If one compares this film with ones from Turkish and Indian films made in this era, it seems as though Chahine effectively utilized what he had. And, if you compare it with films from other African countries, like Senegal, well it seems like an MGM production! I imagine if George Lucas had the film's producer, these things would have been remedied but as it is, very little artistic integrity is compromised here. We are drawn into the characters' lives and we are captivated by their struggles too find love and freedom. In the end, some things are sacrificed too achieve one desire over another and thus we are left with the brutal reality of the immigrant experience. And, the result is one sterling film which suggests that if an artist truly believes in their work, they can achieve the same artistic merits as filmmakers from more developed nations.

More
Watch Instant, Get Started Now Watch Instant, Get Started Now