Day of the Falcon

i was deeply moved and excited by this great movie. finally, there's a movie that told us how the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was built. this is a movie not only gave us great scenes of the desert, the people and one of the greatest fighting scene since 'lawrence of Arabia', but also gave us some great love romance between the two younger generations of the Saudi reigning tribes, their loyalty and their faith to each other during the turmoil time. there was also a beautiful romantic touch from that beautiful exquisite free-will young woman from the southern tribe, she not only saved the future king, helped him regaining the land but also left him with a forever nostalgic memory.

the casting did a great job signed up two great actors to play the foe against each other. the development of the young hostage son from a geeky bookworm nerd to a great man with a vision for its land and its future was also very well crafted.

too shame that the extremity of the strong belief of the Muslim religion didn't free that country but enslaved it later with tyranny and totalitarianism. but for this movie itself, this outcome was not what the screenplay and the director really wanted to portray in the first place. what they've tried to tell by this movie were love, loyalty, truthfulness and humanity before that black gold buried and suffocated the whole country's past and future. its later corrution and cruelty of the house of the saud were not included in what they wanted to tell in this particular movie.

this is a wonderful and fantastic film with great cinematography and sound track. an almost perfect romantic saga.

Well the movie has only the best intentions I assume. It tries hard to be as politically correct as possible, while trying to show extremities and cultural differences. That doesn't work as good as the filmmakers might have expected. I think the tone is uneven, while it still may hold some surprises for some people I guess.

Some good acting is involved here and you get the beautiful Freida Pinto in a major role. You also get Riz Ahmed from Four Lions, who's repeating his comedic role (in another tone obviously, but still very funny of course). The sets are nice and you get a history lesson (more or less) from a region that some (most) of you may not know yet ...

'Black Gold' is an old fashioned epic about feuding fiefdoms in 1930's Arabia, when oil had just been discovered in the region. Mark Strong & Antonio Banderas are the two rulers with a long standing rivalry that metamorphoses into a temporary truce, only to flare up again when their very divergent views inevitably come in the way. Tahar Rahim & Freida Pinto as their respective children, married to each other in what is essentially a politically motivated gesture, attempt to play the peacemakers. Performances - particularly Strong, Rahim & Pinto - are very good. Rahim, playing a Michael Corleone-ish character, does a commendable job. Pinto looks lovely, and Strong as the devout Sultan with a conscience, is nicely understated. As is customary in director Jean-Jacques Annaud's films, the locales & cinematography are breathtaking. The action sequences are crisp & filmed in a raw, realistic manner. Where the film falters, is in taking too long to tell a story that in fact needs far less time. Some passages get boring whereas others keep the viewer completely engrossed. It is this unevenness in the film's pacing that dents the possibility of it soaring high. Overall though, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

It has a good story (historically irrelevant) about the beginnings of oil exports from the middle east. The leading role is played marvelously while for some obscure reason the accompanying major characters are a bit swallow.

Other than that, it is consistent, the film and the story flow without tiring the audience and with awe inspiring scenes of desert battle.

Baring in mind that I gave a 9 to the film because I really enjoyed it and that's what films are about, I have to address the fact that either my knowledge of the Arab world is far lesser than i thought or the film for some reason follows some ill-thought clichés... Half of the people shown on the film would never pass for Arabs... really never... it's more likely that i would pass for an Arab and I'm Greek than half of the cast of the movie... moreover the "heaviness", if it can be a valid term, of the language reminds me more of Persians and less of Arabs ...

Anyways other than that, it is a good film worth seeing, it will make you worth the time.

It draws you in slowly as most great movies do and delivers an unusual punch and caress in places you don't expect. Also, an unusual softness of direct male sentiment that is surprisingly well communicated in parts without being preachy or too sentimental. And, in this fashion, is quite scarce in movies today. It has all the sweetness, drama, brutality and humor many movies rarely do without crossing lines or insulting your intelligence. The dialog and acting is exceptional and the cinematography (among other things) is quite reaching in its ability to paint a truly encompassing picture. The shortcomings in this movies are rather few and I tend not to dwell on negatives. I honestly recommend it and will indeed watch it again.