The Worthy 2016

The Worthy unfolds in a post-apocalyptic future where political conflicts spiral beyond control. Shoaib (also known as Abu Eissa) navigates a shattered world, and a chance encounter with a stranger sets off a warning of looming danger. He moves to protect his two children, Eissa and Maryam, Rakeen Saad as they seek shelter from the growing chaos. As years creep by, fear and hunger tighten their grip on most of the population, but Shoaib and his family, along with seven others, manage to find a fragile refuge with clean water in an abandoned airplane factory.

One night, Shoaib, Eissa, his righthand man Qais, and Daoud confront bandits who use a vulnerable woman as bait. Shoaib is overwhelmed, yet two other survivors—Mussa and Gulbin, Maisa Abd Elhadi—step in to save him. The group welcomes them as guests and debates whether to keep them. Eissa argues that they saved his father’s life and deserve shelter, while others worry they cannot be trusted. Maryam remains wary of Mussa, and Gulbin, who does not speak the common tongue, feels unsettled around him. Jamaal, another survivor, notes that Mussa still has a knife on him. The group establishes a rule: weapons must be locked in a cabinet.

When Shoaib asks for the knife, Mussa kills him and proclaims, “the earth is only for the worthy,” before leaving. > the earth is only for the worthy

From that moment, Mussa begins to pick off the survivors, turning off the water supply and booby-trapping its valve. Raed, a former teacher, dies, and Daoud is injured. Jamaal grows increasingly distrustful of Gulbin and clashes with Eissa, who begins to lean into leadership and develops a bond with Gulbin. Eventually, Eissa expels Jamaal and tries to consolidate the group’s fragile order.

The quest for water leads Eissa, Qais, and Reya (Raed’s wife) away from the factory. They stumble upon Jamaal tied and mutilated, a setup that proves deadly when Reya is killed. Returning to the factory to check on the others, they find Gulbin on watch and bleeding; Qais stays with her, while Eissa rushes to aid the others. He discovers that his sister Maryam remains, but the scene is brutal: most are dead, and Maryam stands on a plane wing with Mussa on the opposite side, a perilous standoff that forces a heart-wrenching choice. Maryam sacrifices herself to save others, and Mussa is killed. Eissa returns to find Qais dead and Gulbin still standing—now speaking the common tongue—who reveals herself as the mastermind behind a cruel test designed to recruit people for a new faction.

Gulbin explains that the test was meant to identify those willing to join their group, the alif-yaa, who intend to rebuild civilization. She tells Eissa to meet them in Medina, then knocks him unconscious. Left alone, Eissa wanders in search of food, shaken by the betrayals and the losses he has endured.

Soon after, the man his father once met—the Seer—reappears and offers a stark explanation: the group exists to restore civilization, but the catastrophe lowered people’s standards, and chaos attracted those who thrived on it. For that reason, the Seer departed, with Shoaib’s help in guiding his decisions. As dawn breaks, Eissa sets out with weapons, heading toward Medina, carrying the burden of responsibility and the uncertain promise of a new beginning.