The 9 best Arab films

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Life

The Call of the Nightingale (Doa al-Karawan), aka The Nightingale's Prayer
Henry Barakat, 1960

arab-nightingale

Barakat was the master of classical cinema in Egypt, and this film is based on a novel by the great Taha Hussein. It is humane and beautifully made. The heroine, a peasant girl, decides to take revenge on a handsome engineer who has seduced her sister and caused her "honour" killing by her uncle. In order to do so, she becomes his live-in maid but soon finds herself falling in love with him. It stars a very young Faten Hamama, who went on to become a huge star and who plays every role with grace and elegance, without ever seeming contrived or dull.

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