Artist The Sparrow

Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's 1972 drama The Sparrow made bold departures in both politics and technique. Chahine's storyline around the 1967 Six Day War between Israel and its neighboring Arab states caused the Egyptian government to ban the film, but his fragmented, episodic narrative built around separate yet related plotlines earned him yet more recognition as a film pioneer. The Sparrow examines corruption and political and familial divides through plot strains including a soldier preparing to fight in the war, a journalist, and a man who's the adopted son of a police official, but whose real father might be a left-wing activist. 

Updated 02/12/2010