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Theeb - (2014)
I recently had a look at Peru's first ever film nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar - this one is Jordan's first. It's set in 1916, and involves the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I - from a Bedouin tribe's point of view. At one stage a British officer becomes involved with them, and I kept thinking "This must be T.E. Lawrence" (he had that look, and feel), but subsequent events disproved that theory. Anyway, what the film is really about is the story of Theeb (Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat) - a young boy who becomes stranded in the desert, and must rely on the kindness of the thief and bandit that killed his brother to survive. Theeb lives in a harsh corner of the globe at an extremely dangerous time, and if it's not the Turks or the landscape itself trying to kill him, it's blasted bandits who think nothing of maiming and murdering for loot. Theeb seems to find himself at a moral crossroads himself, and has to grow up fast if he's to survive at all - his natural curiosity and adventurousness have led him far from home, into conflict and an uneasy alliance. Coming from Jordan, this film has an authenticity that's impressive and is well worth your time - it plays on Arabian proverbs, which become it's theme and message.
7/10
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47500926
A Gang Story - (2011)
There's not much information about French film
A Gang Story to be found online, at least at first glance. It's purportedly based on the life of a real French gangster, Edmond Vidal, and is interesting as to it's look in at the cultural difference of French mobsters to Italian or American. Subtle differences - I mean, they still kill each other. The film's main storyline takes place with Vidal (Gérard Lanvin) and his cronies getting older, and wanting to put an end to the more violent aspects of their career path - but the top man's best buddy, Serge Suttel (Tchéky Karyo) has been arrested, and he feels obliged to break him out. During the breakout a cop is killed, and subsequently there are a series of murders which seem inexplicable to Vidal - there's something afoot he must discover. While all of this is going on, we get various flashbacks to when Vidal and Suttel first became friends and how they rose up the ranks to become the biggest crime kingpins in France. Gérard Lanvin is gruffly handsome, and I've always really liked Tchéky Karyo. People who like this kind of gangster flick might really enjoy this - although I never plan on returning to it, it was at least worth my time and had an interesting narrative, not to mention plenty of murder and mayhem. It isn't a classic by any stretch, but has a couple of fine performances and a nice kind of even tone to it.
6/10
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