Cairo Station (1958) on Netflix
Qinawi, a lame young man, sells newspapers at the Cairo train station. He fixates on Hanuma, a cold-drink vendor who is engaged to Abu Siri, a porter organizing a union.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.5/106,357 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
A newsstand owner at the Cairo train station gives work to Qinawi, a lame young man who has little trouble walking, and Qinawi sells newspapers on the platform. The women at the station shun him because of his limp. He becomes fixated on Hanuma, a cold-drink vendor, who jokes with him about romance but is engaged to Abu Siri, a strong luggage porter. Abu Siri is struggling to organize his fellow workers into a union against their boss's exploitative and abusive treatment of them. Qinawi proposes marriage to Hanuma, picturing a home and children back in his village. She turns him down.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Cairo Station (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Cairo Station provoked outrage among Egyptian audiences when it was released in 1958, because they were expecting the conventional melodramas and comedies that were staples of Egypt's early film industry.
- Despite its initial lack of acceptance, a new generation of international film lovers discovered Cairo Station in the 1970s; in 2020 it was shown as part of a retrospective of Youssef Chahine's films on Netflix.
