'Cairo Station'

Youseff Chahine is one of the great directors of the world and probably the most renown from Egypt's less-than-stellar past as a filmmaking giant despite the innate intrigue surrounding the country's history.

Who could better make the story of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra than an Egyptian? Although, I'm sure there'd be a ton of bias. Who could better make a story of the Pyramids, the great pharaohs and the countless wars and one of the great early civilizations?

Chahine admittedly made films for himself even wanting international audiences more so than his homeland Egyptian audiences. Still, this might be because his films are genuinely Egyptian. Who else would you want to see your homeland -- its streets, rail stations and ordinary people -- than those on the outside looking in?

Chahine actually portrays the hero-villian in Cairo Station, the easily pitiful Qinawi, a beggar in a Cairo rail station, who gets a job selling newspapers. His sexual frustration is pasted onto a wall of his room where he's placed photos of pin-up girls. This desire is quickly focused on a soft-drink saleswoman, Hannuma, portrayed by the super-sexy Hind Rostom. 

In typical fashion, instead of buying flowers or attempting to woo her, he plans to kill him and stuff her in a crate on the eve of her marriage. He ends up killing the wrong girl and ... well, it doesn't end well for Qinawi. 

An interesting sub-plot is that of Hannuma's fiancé, a porter who is attempting to organize a union to strike. They spend just enough time on it to make it worthwhile, but generally it has little to do with the plot. 

Chahine did not shy away from controversial topics. He had gay and bisexual themes in his films and the brutal murder in Cairo Station certainly caught the eye of the government, who was not the friendliest or most progressive for filmmakers. Chahine once exiled himself to Lebanon to make two films in a sort of protest.