The Beginning and the End Salah Abu Seif (Egypt, 1960)

When the father suddenly passes away, he leaves his family suffering without any income. The mother tries her best to avoid falling into poverty by moving to another apartment, and selling the furniture of the house. Her oldest son, Hassan, ends up dealing drugs and living an underground life with prostitutes; Husain, the middle son, leaves school and start working to help his mother and his brother Hasanian. Hasanian breaks up with his fiancée and leaves his family after graduating from college, believing that his place is with the top society and not with such poor people as his family. Nafisa, the only daughter, starts to work as seamstress to earn money. After getting into a relationship with the grocer, who cheats on her and marries another woman, she sells her body to strangers just for a handful of money in order to help her mother and her brother Hasanian. Eventually the story ends as it had started for the family.

Fear, hope, and courage constitute the elements of an intense atmosphere, which shows the corruption of the elite society and their control of the poor ones. The old saying could apply here: “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. A tragic novel as most of Mahfouz’s books, The Beginning and the End was made into a Mexican version in 1993, Principio y fin, which is also being screened in the program this year.

By Ali Shujaa Al Afeefi