5:00 PM Cairo Time (2).. Bab Al-Hadid, one of the great classics of Egyptian cinema
Thursday 18/December/2025 - 01:06 PM
Today, I revisited Cairo Station (Bab Al-Hadid), one of the great classics of Egyptian cinema, by the brilliant Youssef Chahine. I found myself once again transfixed by his astonishing performance as Qenawi, the newspaper vendor—that marginalized figure who raised the ceiling of his dreams far above his bleak reality, dreaming of marrying Hanouma, only to meet an ending where the doctor sends old “Madbouli” to put him in the shirt.
I was reminded of many fools in our own lives, walking the very same path, unaware—indeed incapable of realizing—that they too will wear the shirt in the end, mistaking it all along for a celebratory galabeya.
Paris — 5:00 PM Cairo Time
