Youssef Chahine and the Musical Epic “The Return of the Prodigal Son” (1976)

 

Written by : Seif Mohamed  

A tale of love, separation, war, jealousy, lust, and greed.

A portrayal of virtue embodied on one side, facing the living embodiment of the seven deadly sins on the other.

A story of reckless love, the kind of love that strikes the youth, blinds their vision, misleads their path, ignites their hearts, stirs their emotions, and gives them the sweetest days of their lives, even as they know deep down with absolute certainty that such love can never flourish or be fulfilled. It can never become the first and last.

Yet the heart blinds them to this truth, while those with insight see clearly, 

So they understand, they walk away, and they part.

The fire of love that once warmed the chest becomes the fire of separation that burns the heart, scorches the body, and turns hair gray.

They wish they could go back just once more, for they regret what they’ve done.

But such is the way of life…time never rewinds, and yet the pain of parting lingers forever.

A story about troubled souls, and the greed for what belongs to your brother, and the desire to be the only one in the world to relish its pleasures alone.

The desire that your mother had only given birth to you, so you never had to share love, or fight over petty childhood squabbles,

or over a woman who captured both your hearts, but never let you into hers.

So their hearts burn with jealousy and envy.

They’re blinded by lust and arrogance, which drag them into vice.

And what is more vile than to violate ?

Especially if that violation is not just against honor, but against blood, brotherhood, and sacred bonds.

They wage war against the very person who once had their back.

They spill rivers of blood until they can no longer distinguish friend from foe.

A war between one and his brother.

Between virtue and vice.

Between the rationality of civilized humanity and the savagery of a blind beast.

What Youssef Chahine accomplished in his musical epic The Return of the Prodigal Son ..this confrontation between the best and worst in human nature is a proof of unmatched genius.

And when he could have added another dramatic layer and a story of love and loss, reflecting a fundamental truth of life, he did just that.

This was further proof that Egyptian cinema never has, and perhaps never will, have someone with the brilliance and genius of Youssef Chahine.