The Dupes

Rijal fi al-Shams (Men in the Sun), a 1963 novel by Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, presents a poignant picture of the hopeless situation of many Palestinians. Egyptian director Tewfik Saleh, who has taken a strong stand against social injustice, underdevelopment and political scheming in all his films, adapted the novel into film nine years later. Reminiscent of the 1953 French classic Le salaire de la peur, his film is also a powerful indictment of everything that has happened to the Palestinians.

After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, many Palestinians fled abroad. Some chose Iraq and many years later, in the 1960s, here the somewhat older Abu Qays, the politically active Ass'ad and the teenager Marwan are dreaming of a better future, which they hope to find in prosperous Kuwait. They pay a water truck driver to smuggle them across the border illegally, in the tank of his truck. A risky undertaking...

Restored in 2023 by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with the National Film Organization and the family of Tewfik Saleh. Special thanks to Mohamed Challouf and Nadi Nekol Nas. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.