Ahmed, a young agricultural engineer, helps the farmers produce a superior sugar cane crop. Taher Pasha, a wealthy land owner, feels threatened by his recent production prosperity. Ahmed is in love with Pasha’s daughter, but due to their fathers’ rivalry, he is compelled to hide their relationship.

Shot in the awe-inspiring Valley of the Kings, this damning social critique of land exploitation simmers with full-blooded, cross-class romance. Masterfully interweaving neorealism with melodrama, Youssef Chahine’s epic marks a sensuous and ferocious screen debut from the iconic Omar Sharif.