This paper continues my ongoing exploration of the contradictory – or at best vague – ways in which Egyptian film classics engaged with modernity. Films often projected a new social ethos of modern gender equality yet, in their resolutions, favored male subjects as active nation builders. Thus, the worlds that they created charted divergent paths that, despite attempts to include women as equal partners, ultimately sent them back to the home via a detour. In this paper I argue that Ana hurra (I am Free, 1959) utilizes the bildungsroman, or coming of age, narrative to outline a gendered matrix for nation-building and, therefore, structures female national growth around domesticity. Despite covert support for female agency and participation in the national struggle through a non-maternal role, the film eventually capitulates to the mainstream modern vision. Ana hurra is a forward-looking picture depicting the journey of growth of a defiant young woman, whose rebelliousness reflects the Nasser era state feminism. Insisting on freedom, autonomy as a full-fledged individual, and participation in the nation as an active subject, Amina, the protagonist, undergoes a journey of exploration. With her father’s support, she breaks many barriers as she turns down marriage, goes to college, graduates, and works in a petrol company. Her search for freedom continues as she reconnects with ‘Abbas, a former male neighbor, who serves as her guide. Amina joins a political group fighting for Egypt’s independence, an affiliation which lands her and ‘Abbas in prison, where she finally recognizes that her true freedom lies in the domestic sphere. The last scenes see her marrying ‘Abbas exactly three days before the revolution, implying that Amina will now recede to the background and contribute to the fight through rearing the nation’s children. Thus, woman in the movie figures as a temporary aid for whom the political struggle is only a detour. In Ana hurra, the female protagonist goes through education only to unlearn all that she has learned over the course of her journey. As the film equates national freedom with marriage for women, men emerge as fighters and women as homemakers. Even though Amina’s was an unusual role, reaching domesticity through rebellion and temporary participation in the national struggle, the film reaffirms the modern mainstream narrative that designates only men as active nation builders.