War in the Land of Egypt
by Qaid, Yusuf
Egypt on the eve of the 1973 October war. A young man has been drafted into the army. His father, the village elder, persuades a poor night-watchman to send his own son as a stand-in but the impersonation plan goes horribly wrong with tragic-comic results. This tale of the fiasco ? steeped in irony and black humour ? parodies outrageous corruption and ludicrous bureaucracy.