Pictured is a 25.25" x 36.5" Egyptian poster designed to promote the
1992 111-minute Nader Galal color film Wickedness [al-shariss]
starring Youssra based on story, screenplay and dialogue by Magdy
Hidaya with cinematography by Samir Farag. Plot summary: This is a
police/gangland movie set in the Port of Alexandria. Three siblings
lived in Alexandria. The first one Hamam [Mahmoud Hemida] was the
leader of a gang of drug dealers operating under the cover of a
shipping office inside the port. He succeeded in recruiting his
little brother Khamis [Mahmoud El Guindi] for the narcotics trade, but
their sister Fatma [Youssra] refused to engage in this illicit
activity. She objected to their criminal trade and remained a simple
sales worker at a clothing store. Fatma had a love relationship with Mansour
[Youssef Mansour], a friend to her brother Khamis, but he was away
from the neighborhood for many years; when he returned they renewed
their relationship and decided to marry. The return of Mansour and his
emotional tie with Fatma are a central part of the film's early
development. Al-Agrudy [Nour El-Demerdash], a narcotics dealer in
competiton with Hamam, wanted to marry Fatma, but she refused him.
During an argument with Hamam he killed Zein [Ashraf Abdel Baqi], one
of Hamam's agents; Khamis took revenge by killing three members of
Al-Agrudy's gang. Al-Agrudy demanded that Hamam kill his brother
Khamis, but Hamam just made his brother apologize to Al-Agrudy.
Mansour, an athletic man skilled in shooting and the martial arts who
had been absent for a considerable period engaged in unknown activity,
then emerged as a police agent charged with purging the Port of
Alexandria of narcotics gangs; he asked Fatma to help him with his
secret mission. Hamam shot his brother Khamis, who died later in a
hospital. Fatma was heartbroken and furious with her brother Hamam.
Hamam was then killed in a confrontation by Al-Agrudy as Fatma
watched. Then Mansour took on Al-Agrudy's gang in a heroic
one-against-many fight; just as Al-Agrudy was about to shoot Mansour,
Fatma shot and killed him, thus completing the purge of the Port of
Alexandria. Youssra gets top billing on the poster for this film and
she deserves it. She holds the film together.
