''The Traveller'' ( ar, المسافر, ''Al Mosafer'') is an Egyptian film directed by Ahmed Maher. The story takes place in the course of three days of the life of Hassan, the octogenarian protagonist, played by

Khaled El Nabawy Khaled Mohamed El Nabawy ( ar, خالد محمد النبوي; born September 12, 1966) is an Egyptian actor who played roles in film, theater and television. He was born in Mansoura, Egypt, and was introduced to cinema by the director Youssef ...

as the young Hassan and

Omar Sharif Omar Sharif ( ar, عمر الشريف ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub , 10 April 193210 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the ...

as the older Hassan. The three days of Hassan's life represents key events in modern Egyptian history: the first is the

Nakba Clickable map of Mandatory Palestine with the depopulated locations during the 1947–1949 Palestine war. The Nakba ( ar, النكبة, translit=an-Nakbah, lit=the "disaster", "catastrophe", or "cataclysm"), also known as the Palestinian Ca ...

in 1948, the second is the 6 October War in 1973, and the third is

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

in 2001.

Cast

The characters of the film were portrayed by famous

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 ...

actors including: *

Amr Waked Amr Waked ( ar, عمرو واكد ; born ) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film ''Syriana''. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh calle ...

Cyrine Abdelnour Cyrine Abdelnour ( ar, سيرين عبد النور; also spelled Cyrine Abd Al-Nour or Cyrine Abdel-Nour; born 21 February 1977) is a popular Lebanese singer, actress, and model. Her first album, ''Leila Min Layali'', was released in 2004. She ...

* Sherif Ramzy *

Basma Basma ( ar, بسمة, he, בסמ"ה) is an Israeli Arab local council in the Wadi Ara area of Haifa District. The local council was formed in 1995 through the consolidation of the villages of Barta'a West, Ein as-Sahala, and Muawiya; Basma is ...

Alaa Morsy Alaa Aldeen Nabiel Morsi Ahmed ( ar, علاء الدين نبيل مرسي أحمد) (born 27 January 1962) is a former football footballer, He represented Egypt in the 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of ...

Plot summary

Three crucial days in a Hassan's life. First day. Autumn 1948,

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...

, Hassan's first day at work when he receives a telegram and decides to meet the beautiful and thrill-loving Nura by impersonating her long-distant fiancé. Hassan manages both to reach the cruise ship on which she is travelling and to charm her, until he impatiently rapes her and then accidentally sets the ship on fire. Second Day. Autumn 1973.

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

of Egypt. Hassan is in the city to meet Nadia, Nura's daughter, who is mourning her brother who has just died in a seaside accident. Hassan soon comes to believe he is Nadia's father, and helps engineer her marriage to a halfwit hanger-on. Third Day. Autumn 2001,

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. Hassan meets Alì, Nadia's son where he observes numerous similarities with the young man.

References

External links

*
The Traveller at the 66th Venice Film Festival
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Traveller (2009 Film) 2009 films 2000s Arabic-language films Egyptian drama films