ABSTRACT
As much as political upheaval heightened the demand for incisive depictions of reality, however, it brought into focus an equally elevated interest in the methodology used for doing so. It is in part for this reason that Egyptian cinema also spawned a vibrant tradition of auteur cinema, of filmmakers who are aware of the politics of perception and who have integrated this awareness into the crafting of their visual narratives. Yūsuf Shāhīn's (Youssef Chahine) short film Cairo as Seen by Youssef Chahine is perhaps the finest example of this latter tradition. The metanarrative quality to Chahine's film can be traced back to the earliest examples of his work. In al-Bāb al-ḥadīd, one of the true masterpieces of Egyptian cinema, the director welcomes the audience to the film with an aerial survey of Cairo's central train terminal. Cairo Station was part of a surge in films following the 1952 revolution depicting the machinations of criminal actors.
