Chahine dresses up a class conflict as a fight over a canal, and mostly it works in The Blazing Sun. Whoever controls the water runs the village, simple as that. That's a sharper choice than the personal feuds you get in something like Jean de Florette or Dry Summer.
Faten Hamama is the whole reason to watch this. She does more with a single look than most actors manage in a full monologue. Omar Sharif's first outing doesn't ask much of him yet, but the star wattage is already obvious. Shot in the Valley of the Kings, and the landscape does plenty of the heavy lifting too.
The sabotage plot sometimes feels like scaffolding rather than story. A couple of supporting characters get lost standing next to Hamama, too. It also pulls a punch or two when it could've gone a lot darker.
Still, a film about a canal that ends up being about everything else.