Pharaonic civilization...a treasure absent from the eyes of Egyptian cinema

A civilization that lasted for more than 7 thousand years, and was an essential factor in the development of human civilizations throughout the ages, as it transmitted to subsequent civilizations a lot of science and knowledge, so it was necessary for the ancient Pharaonic civilization to be an excellent subject for films in Egyptian cinema.

But on the contrary, Egyptian cinema suffered from extreme poverty in producing this fertile material, and presented only a limited number of artistic works that talked about the history of the Pharaohs, in contrast to world cinema, which aroused its passion for the secrets of the Pharaonic civilization for many years, during which it produced more than 500 films. Many of them won important awards. In this article, we take you on an exciting journey through time, to learn about the films that captured the greatness of the ancient Pharaonic civilization in Egyptian cinema.

Bride of the Nile 1963

The movie “Bride of the Nile” drew attention to the issue of drilling in archaeological areas to explore for oil, through the story of geological engineer Sami Fouad (Rushdi Abaza), who travels to the city of Luxor to continue excavation operations, and Hamis, the daughter of Aten, the sun god (Lubna Abdel Aziz), appears to him. She tells him that she is the last bride of the Nile and begins to chase him and make his life hell, demanding that he stop excavations in this area due to the presence of tombs of Nile brides. A love story develops between them and they get married. On the wedding night, the sun god appears to Hamis and asks her to return to the other world, so she leaves Sami and departs before sunrise. The film ends with workers finding a coffin containing the mummy of the Nile bride, Hamis. Sami holds a press conference announcing this important archaeological discovery. He meets a journalist very similar to Hamis, named Nadia Hamdy, and proposes to her for marriage.

Gram in Karnak 1967

The events of the movie “Gram in Karnak” take place in a show context, through the character of the show dancer Salah (Mahmoud Reda), who dreams of fame and success and bringing Egyptian folklore to the world, so he takes members of the folklore band to the city of Luxor, to present one of the show performances in front of the tourists in the Karnak Temple for his faith. With the greatness of Pharaonic history, and that this place could have been the reason for the success and fame of the band due to its wide popularity, the film showed the beauty of the city of Luxor and the great monuments that characterize it, by presenting a group of dance performances using several archaeological sites, and it also presented a review of Queen Hatshepsut.

The Mummy 1975

The movie “The Mummy” discussed the issue of the theft of Egyptian antiquities, and was inspired by a true story that took place in 1871, when the Abdel Rasoul family was able to discover the cache of mummies from Deir el-Bahari, which included a large group of mummies of the great pharaohs’ kings. The movie presented the story of a tribe called the Harbat. She lives in Upper Egypt and is famous for stealing and selling Pharaonic antiquities, but after the death of the tribe's sheikh, his children decide to stop stealing antiquities, and one of them is killed by his uncle, while the second succeeds in escaping and informing the antiquities mission of the location of the tomb.

Al-Muhajir 1994

The film “The Migrant” is the only artistic work presented by Egyptian cinema, and its events take place entirely in the time of the ancient Egyptians. It is a film adapted from the story of our master Joseph, as its events take place during the reign of Amenhotep III, and it tells the story of Ram (Khaled El Nabawi), who lives with his old father in a tribe. Poor in the Egyptian desert, Ram asks his father to immigrate to Egypt to learn agriculture, so his seven brothers accompany him on his journey, and they try to get rid of him by throwing him on a ship heading to Egypt, where the ship’s owner finds him and decides to sell him, and after Ram arrives in Egypt, he meets the captain The armies of Amihar (Mahmoud Hemida) and his wife Simhit (Yousra), who fall in love with him, make him withdraw to live on the land that Amihar gave him at the borders of Egypt to cultivate it. There he meets the beautiful Egyptian girl Hatti (Hanan Turk) and falls in love with her, and succeeds in reclaiming the land. When a famine occurs, Ram is able to save the people with the crop he planted in the desert. His brothers arrive in Egypt seeking help. Ram recognizes them and reveals his personality to them. He takes his lover and returns to his family.

Mummy escape 2002

The movie “Mummy Escape” dealt with the story of a group of archaeological researchers, Dalia (Nelly Karim), Hassan (Majed El Masry), and Maged (Fathi Abdel Wahab), who discover the mummy of Ramesses IV in the city of Luxor. Hassan becomes greedy and tries to seize it, and a Turkish businessman He commissioned an international gang to steal the mummy, because he believed it contained the elixir of youth and health. In fact, the coffins were replaced and the mummy was transported to Turkey. The international police of Interpol were able to arrest the gang, and the events ended with the mummy being returned to Egypt.

Code Sheet 2008

The movie “Code Sheet” presented the story of the playboy Fayez (Ahmed Fahmy), who discovers with the help of his two friends Ismail (Hisham Maged) and Badir (Chico) that his grandfather, the archaeologist, had left him encrypted messages before his death that included the way to access maps of the Jerusalem civilization’s treasures, which were drawn by the Jews. Fleeing to Egypt so as not to lose its landmarks, Fayez is pursued by an Israeli gang that is in turn searching for the treasure. They frame up a murder for the three friends and promise them a large sum of money in addition to acquitting them of the murder charge in exchange for their help to the gang in finding the maps. The friends agree and travel to the city of Luxor on an exciting adventure to find... On maps hidden in ancient Pharaonic temples, but when Fayez realizes the historical importance of those maps, he refuses to hand them over to the gang. The friends turn to the police and the gang is arrested. Fayez hands over the maps to the Antiquities Authority, and he and his friends are acquitted of the murder.

Treasure 2017

The events of the movie “The Treasure” take place in 1975, where Hassan Bishr al-Katatni (Ahmed Hatem) returns to his family’s home in Luxor, after studying Egyptology in Europe. Hassan wants to sell the palace, liquidate his properties in Egypt, and return to where he came from, especially after the death of his uncle. But the servant surprises him that his father has left him a collection of papyri and video tapes that he must watch before making the decision to sell.