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6.5·2011·130 min·English·Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
AdventureDrama
Synopsis
On the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, two warring leaders come face to face. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down his peace terms to rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib adopts Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda as a guarantee against invasion. Twelve years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas. He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his wildest imagination. Nesib imagines a realm of infinite possibility, a kingdom with roads, schools and hospitals all paid for by the black gold beneath the barren sand. There is only one problem. The precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.
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D
durackJan 5, 2025
This is very slow at times. Looks like the movie was state-sponsored by the Qatari Government to the tune of $40 million. It has only made ~$5 million at the box office. I blame the length of over 2 hours as a contributing factor. There's so much padding. Unlike other unnecessarily long movies, this one seems to have burned a lot of money on padding with so many extras, Camels, etc. The story of how the West discovered oil in Iran and Iraq leading to the formation of British Petroleum (BP) in the very early 20th century and then leading to similar discoveries in Bahrain, Kuwait etc., can be told in a much more interesting manner than this. Unfortunately, in this instance, the Qatari funding must have dictated that the narrative must make Arabs look smart. Well, that's hard to do when all the Arab leaders at the time had to do was sign leases handing over their backyards to western oil companies. The rest is history. Today, in the 21st century (100 years since the events of this movie), most middles eastern countries are case studies for Resource Curse.
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