''Saladin the Victorious'', also known as ''Saladin and the Great Crusades'' ( ar, الناصر صلاح الدين, transliteration. Al Nasser Salah Ad-Din), is a 1963

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

war drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Youssef Chahine. It was written by Yusuf Sibai, based on the novel by Naguib Mahfouz. It stars Ahmed Mazhar as Saladin, Salah Zulfikar as Issa El Awam. Nadia Lutfi as Louisa de Lusignan,

Omar El-Hariri Omar Mokhtar El-Hariri ( – 2 November 2015) was a leading figure of the National Transitional Council of Libya who served as the Minister of Military Affairs in 2011, during the Libyan Civil War. He controlled the National Liberation Army and ...

, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Leila Fawzi, Hamdi Gheiss, Ahmed Luxor,

Hussein Riad Hussein Mohamed Shafiq ( ar, حسين محمد شفيق, more commonly known by his stage name Hussein Riad ( ar, حسين رياض , (1897–1965) was an Egyptian actor, who mainly played "dad roles". His career spanned about 46 years and he appe ...

Laila Taher Laila Taher ( ar, ليلي طاهر) born Sherouette Moustafa Ibrahim ( ar, شيرويت مصطفي إبراهيم) is an Egyptian film, stage, television actress and presenter who is mostly known for her successful collaborations with Salah Zulf ...

and Zaki Toleimat. It was entered into the

3rd Moscow International Film Festival The 3rd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 21 July 1963. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Italian film ''8½'' directed by Federico Fellini. Jury * Grigori Chukhrai (USSR - President of the Jury) * Shaken Ajmanov (USSR) * S ...

. The film was restored to its original running time of 186 minutes from the original negative by the Cineteca di Bologna and was shown at Il Cinema Ritrovato in June 2019. ''Saladin'' is one of the Top 100 Egyptian films.

Background

The movie depicts the events of the Third Crusade. What happened during those events is that after Saladin reclaimed Jerusalem, the European powers led by King

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

of England, Emperor Barbarossa of Germany and King Phillip Augustus of France joined together to reclaim it and return it to Christian hands. This resulted in the war between the Europeans and Saladin, which lasted for three years before a truce was made between Saladin and King Richard, allowing Saladin to keep the land while Christians could freely enter Jerusalem. When the movie came out, it came at a time when Egypt was free of colonial rule and was released between two wars with Israel. Due to this, the Egyptian government was trying to promote its ideals, with the leader at the time,

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

, being the representative of it. Saladin in many ways references and parallels Nasser as like the president, the movie Saladin pushes forth the ideal of a Pan Arab unity as all Arabs are united in the movie in fighting the European powers, which is no better portrayed then in the line "My dream is to see an Arab Nation under one flag, hearts united and free of hate." This is also portrayed well with Issa, who's a Christian Arab, yet chooses to fight alongside Saladin and his army. Similarly, it also has an anti-colonialism message as the European powers are trying to subjugate the Arab lands under their rule, but they resist and successfully manage to peacefully resolve the war. This is shown in showing the bronze Arabs pulling siege towers at the head of the Crusader army, the Arabs represent those who remain in oppression under imperialistic rule while the mechanical siege towers represent the war-like machines that were present in the battles Egypt fought for their independence.

Production

The budget was enormous at this time in Egypt, reaching 120,000 L.E. The poster was created by Egyptian artist Mohamed Ragheb.

Plot

The story of Saladin ( Ahmed Mazhar) portrays the title character, ruler of the kingdoms surrounding Jerusalem, during the events of the Third Crusade. The film starts with Jerusalem, which is under the authority of the Christians of Europe, having its

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

pilgrims slaughtered by the Christians in the holy lands. Saladin upon hearing this news seeks the reclamation of the holy lands in a short, almost impossible campaign. He succeeds in taking back Jerusalem, which leads the powers of Europe to organize the Third Crusade with the combined forces of the French king (

) and the German emperor under the leadership of Richard the Lionheart of England. Saladin succeeds in preventing the recapture of Jerusalem, and in the end negotiations between himself and Richard (whom Saladin admires as the only honorable infidel leader) leave the Holy Land in Muslim hands. The movie also has a subplot involving Christian Issa El Awam ( Salah Zulfikar), and the Crusader Louisa ( Nadia Lutfi) portraying the title characters. At the beginning, both first meet when Issa accidentally comes upon her when she's taking a bath, and after he turns away waiting for her to get dressed before he takes her prisoner due to being a Crusader, she shoots an arrow at him and escapes. Eventually, after Issa in turns spares her life twice, Louisa chooses to give up her arms as a Crusader and becomes a nurse. This leads to the two falling in love and marrying each other, with Louisa choosing to remain in Jerusalem with him.

Reception

The film is considered one of the most important Arabic movies of all time, although some viewers took issue with the film's historical inaccuracies. It is also infamous for a production mistake showing a military officer wearing a wristwatch.

Historical Inaccuracies

Richard I was not shot by a poisoned arrow as depicted in the film but both Richard I and Philippe Augustus II of France were sick from arnaldia, a disease similar to scurvy. Saladin did not kill the king of France in a duel.

Cast

* Ahmed Mazhar as Saladin * Salah Zulfikar as Issa El Awam * Nadia Lutfi as Louisa de Lusignan *Hamdi Geiss as King Richard I (Richard the Lion-Heart) * Leila Fawzi as Virginia, Princess of Kerak * Mahmoud El-Meliguy as Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat *Tewfik El Deken as Prince of Acre *Umar El-Hariri as King Philip of France *Zaki Tulaimat as Duke Arthur *

as Queen Berengaria *Ahmed Louxor as Raynald of Châtillon *Fattouh Nchati as Guy of Lusignan *Ibrahim Emara *Mohamed Hamdi *Mohamed Abdel Gawad

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saladin The Victorious 1963 films 1960s historical drama films 1960s biographical drama films Egyptian biographical drama films Egyptian historical drama films Egyptian epic films Egyptian war drama films 1960s Arabic-language films Films about Islam Films based on Egyptian novels Films based on historical novels Films based on military novels Crusades films Films set in the 12th century Films directed by Youssef Chahine Cultural depictions of Saladin Cultural depictions of Richard I of England 1963 drama films 1960s war drama films Cultural depictions of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Films set in Jerusalem