Black Gold

In early twentieth-century Arabia a war between two emirs ends in a treaty: the strip of desert between them will belong to nobody, and Sultan Amar will leave his two sons as hostages with his rival Nesib. Years later oil is found in that strip and the treaty collapses. Prince Auda, raised among books and with no interest in war, is caught between the two sides. Jean-Jacques Annaud directed. Tahar Rahim, Mark Strong, Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto are in the cast. The source is a novel by Hans Ruesch. It was shot in Qatar and Tunisia and was one of the most expensive Arab-financed films of its moment, with the Doha Film Institute among its principal backers. What is interesting is the point of view: it tells the arrival of oil in the region through the conflict between two Arab rulers rather than through a Western company. Against that, casting mostly non-Arab actors in the leads was criticised. Who it is for: viewers who like large-scale desert epics and Annaud's visual approach. Who it is not for: anyone after depth of character. The film leans on the epic template and defines its people by their positions.