Black Gold (2013)

There's undoubtedly a good film to be made out of the scramble for oil in the Arabian desert in the 1930s, and how medieval desert kingdoms were suddenly rushed into the 20th century (this subject was in part dealt in Tintin's Land of Black Gold)– but this is not quite it. We have two warring sultans, played by Antonio Banderas and Mark Strong. As the movie starts, they have decided to make peace, creating a neutral zone in their frontier, but not before Banderas takes Strong's two sons as hostages. The truce holds up for several years (allowing Strong's children to became adults), until an American geologist arrives in a small airplane claiming the buffer zone has a lot of oil beneath it. So the war begins again…This tries to be an adventure film in the classic tradition. It starts excitingly, but it grows more boring with time. Filming it in English and with non Arabian actors as leads doesn't help the movie in credibility. The decent budget and nice cinematography helps in recreating Arabia in the early 20th century (it was filmed mostly in Tunisia). This was directed by French filmmaker Jean Jacques Annaud (Quest for Fire, The Bear, Seven Years in Tibet). Based on a 1957 novel by Hans Ruesch, a Swiss writer, who also wrote the Eskimo adventure Top of the World (upon which a film starring Anthony Quinn was made in 1960). Also with Freida Pinto, an Indian actress, playing an Arab princess.

I remember when Lawrence of Arabia came out, long ago. The most stunning things about it were Peter O'Toole, the haunting music, and the hard won shots of the desert. I would have traded it all to learn the details of desert warfare, but it failed to do more than offer a glimpse. Instead it wallowed in Lawrence's tortured mind to little purpose, creating a deeply dissatisfying movie. Now, years later, my antidote has come in the form of a real story, the kind I longed for as a kid, but seldom found. If you consider the people of the Arabian desert savage, superstitious barbarians, you won't be able to enjoy this movie. But if you can suspend your prejudice long enough to be convinced, they do a fine job of conveying how a totally foreign and ancient culture can make more than a little sense in today's world. Is it all fantasy, these unusually noble men with their deep distrust of western values? I doubt it. There are always ineffable things about a people's true dreams and character that have little to do with their actual history, that can only really be expressed in art. If I were Arab I'd be very happy to see a movie like this about how my forefathers reacted to the first oil wells and the riches they promised.The lead, Tahar Rahim, is spot on as the bookish Prince Auda, turned fighter. His father Mark Strong as the Sultan Amar has some of the best lines and is a strong and welcome presence throughout. Antonio Banderas worked for me as Emir Nesib and I admire his entire career. There's no doubt in my mind he was fully committed to this movie though some apparently found his performance distracting; I did not. As others have pointed out, Freida Pinto and Liya Kebede, as the female leads, are both fairly wasted here though there's something true about how minor their roles are given this is mostly a story about change, war and father-son relations.No, I might forever be labeled a low brow for writing this, but I enjoyed this film much more than I did the highly acclaimed Lawrence of Arabia. This is a far more earnest and effecting film and deserves a great deal more praise than it's likely to get in the west given our politics. That's truly a shame as we could use a little sympathy and insight into these people.

A beautiful existential film that is unlike most modern spoon-fed reality TV motion pictures, the film addresses core cultural differences in "what is of value"; which goes right to the heart of the World's problems. Yes, the dialog of the main love-interest of the Protagonist comes off in cliché's; but the other woman does not, so I don't think it's the writer. The rest of the dialog is amazing, and over-all the screenplay keeps a Falcon-eyed view of various belief systems at play, portrayed brilliantly by each character, but without judging. I, for one, find this more important than the 'reality' of the airplane or the accents. Story has recently been sacrificed to the god of reality and accuracy, and as the great film critic Pauline Kael said: 'Good Movies are rarely perfect movies." This film had mythological elements to it, and spiritual. I am so happy to have found it among the overwhelming amount of horror, violence, and stupid films lining the shelves of Hollywood.

The script is like a bad Disney production with cartoon largely inaccurate versions of Arabic Muslim culture and the history it is supposed to represent (history of arabian peninsula during 20s and 30s).It is a formula imbecilic action/war movie basically a paint by numbers picture designed to beguile stupid audiences.At 55 million what a waste of money.... I hope they actually didn't kill any camels or other animals to make this trash.Some of the actors aren't bad but the SCRIPT! However what is with the accents? I thought it was dubbed for the first 15 minutes--still not positive it wasn't!I went to school with Tarak Ben Ammar the producer in Tunis. He would know better about the script's authenticity....it is simply some cynical attempt to make money. I didn't find the production values that good frankly it is almost B quality with a few hundred extras and some digital wizardry....I doubt the 55 million some of it must have gone into various pockets.DO NOT RECOMMEND