Interesting story. Might not have mass appeal, but I enjoyed it. Not extremely plot-driven, but a good snapshot of a life situation that may otherwise be unfamiliar to the viewer.

Theeb is an international co-production from Jordan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. It is the feature debut of Naji Abu Nowar, a British-Jordanian filmmaker who doesn't seem to have made anything since. It is the first Jordanian film to receive an Oscar nomination. To be honest I have no idea about this period of history in the region. Only what I gathered from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) I guess. But his activities were a bit before this I think. This is a coming of age tale of a young boy in the lead up to The Great Revolt, something i know nothing about and even though I watched the film I was oddly unmoved to look it up. But who cares? I won't remember it if I do look it up so I don't suppose it matters. I'll just blame it all on the British as is de rigueur. Anyway, warring tribes and the British in some sort of cluster fuck. Theeb, the name of the boy we focus on doesn't seem to know too much about it either. BUT! What I can say is that it is a very good film and I was able to enjoy and appreciate it despite my inability to contextualize it. Theeb's brother gets killed in a mountain shoot out leaving Theeb to fend for himself. And that he does. Good performances, good evocation of atmosphere and good cinematography. Though I am always hesitant about praising the cinematography of beautiful landscapes because you don't need to do too much to make the shots look good. As far as I know this is the only Jordanian film I have ever seen and it seems a good place to start.