Saeed (Mohamed Ali) is an air-conditioning technician living in Cairo, weighed down by its exorbitant cost of living. Seeking to cut expenses, his employer assigns a porter to work alongside him, which eventually forces Saeed to return to his village in the Nile Delta. There live his visually impaired father (Abdulaziz Makhyoun), his hard-working mother (Afaf Shoieb), and his numerous siblings, all of whom earn a meager living peeling vegetables for packaging, barely enough to help them cope with difficult living conditions. Faced with economic hardship, his desire to finalize his marriage to his fiancée Nasra (Lamiaa Karam), and his commitment to help raise his younger siblings, Saeed seeks to travel to Italy in search of a job opportunity that will yield quick and substantial income. He opts for an illegal route by turning to Sayed (Bayoumi Fouad), a migration broker, paying him a large sum upfront and signing promissory notes for the remainder, guaranteed by a family member. Saeed borrows the necessary funds. Emad (Amr El Kady) is a hired farm laborer tilling the land until the landowner decides to turn the parcel into construction plots, leaving Emad and his fellow workers jobless. Emad finds himself forced to contemplate traveling to Italy, but his mother (Afaf Hamdy) opposes the journey. Seeing his persistence, she insists that he marry first so that he may leave her a grandchild from his loins to comfort her in his absence. Emad duly marries Nagah (Eman Ragaie), who helps him fund his journey by giving him her grandmother's gold necklace, which she and her sisters inherited from their mother. Her sisters, Hanem (Farah Mohamed) and Fadia (Maha El-Beheiry), agree to waive their shares in the necklace in exchange for promissory notes signed by Emad. Magdy (Mohamed Mehran), the only son of his mother (Hanan Soliman), works on an electric sawmill; however, a business slump forces the owner to shut down the workshop. Magdy and his mother plunge deeper into hardship, their destitution worsens, and their debts mount. Magdy resolves to travel to Italy, dreaming of lifting himself and his mother out of poverty to enjoy days of comfort. Though his mother refuses to let her only son out of her sight, Magdy's deteriorating psychological state forces her to relent and agree to his departure. Through the broker Sayed, the three companions—Saeed, Emad, and Magdy—gather on a decrepit vessel bound for Italy, joined by numerous ambitious youths seeking a chance to improve their lives and provide for their families. An unequal journey of suffering begins between a turbulent sea and a rickety boat crammed with inexperienced youths. They manage to evade the corrupt Italian coast guard, but the vessel takes on water and founders, forcing them to plunge into the sea. They ultimately reach the Italian shore—not as survivors, but as lifeless bodies floating on the water's surface, washed ashore by the waves. (The Other Shore)
- CategoriesDrama
