Add your email and we'll match picks to the services you stream at home.

Poster for Hatifa

1960 | 85 min | Adventure, Drama

Monday Morning Maybeearly rating

Why it’s a Monday Morning Maybe

With almost no lasting buzz and soft box office, this one could be a tough watch. Keep your phone handy.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
A natural pick for adventure lovers and people who like stories about real, flawed people. A good one for when you want to be swept off somewhere else.
The mood
Exciting.
The pace
Lets scenes breathe, at 1 hr 25 min. Short enough for a weeknight.
What might put you off
  • It's in German, so expect subtitles (or a dub).
  • Made in 1960: an older pace and style.
  • Not the one if you want explosions or easy laughs.

Hatifa is tired of her difficult fate and escapes from the place of her enslavement, a quarry in the desert. There she wanders around in freedom, but ultimately helpless, without water or food. Shortly before dying of thirst, she is saved by the sage Simsal, who is traveling with a caravan of the merchant Ganem. Hatifa quickly makes many friends, including the young servant Hodja. Only to him she confides her secret. The girl had to keep the fact that she was a slave to herself. After all, anyone who helps escaped slaves is mercilessly threatened with the death penalty. Out of consideration for the caravan, they both flee, but are soon picked up by Ganem. When he realizes that he can make a lot of money with Hatifa, he sells her again to a quarry.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsNot counted

    Not enough reviews on record yet

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsNot counted

    No major awards or nominations

  • Reach & staying powerBelow par

    Streaming release that reached a small audience so far; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactWeak

    About 423 people sought it out in the past year

More like this

Want more like this, picked just for you? Get my picks

Cast & crew

Directed by Siegfried Hartmann

  • Gisela BüttnerHatifa
  • Harry HindemithSimsal
  • Axel KausmannHodja
  • Jochen ThomasGanem
  • Gerhard LauStelzbein
  • Fred DürenZadok
  • Herbert GrünbaumAnaximandros
  • Hans-Joachim HegewaldEnki
  • Otto-Erich EdenharterKapitän
  • Alfred LuxAchmed