THE KINGDOM
I’ve had this movie in my collection for a while now but strangely I haven’t seen it until recently; as if I subconsciously knew I had to be ready to see it. I like controversial movies and I thought (don’t ask me why) it was about one of the wars in the Middle East and the American involvement. I couldn’t be more wrong…
“The Kingdom”, starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Gardner, opens with a quick trip down the memory lane of Saudi-American relations in the oil industry. It is unusual but quite appropriate for the ambience of the film in general. It grabs your attention from the very first clip and holds it nearly to the end. And it dictates the whole nature of the film and tells the viewers when and where it will take place.
As soon as the little history lesson is over, the camera moves to show a group of Americans playing softball with their oh-so-typical loud disregard for everybody else, which really is not a virtue if you happen to reside somewhere in the Middle East (like these people obviously do) in times when nearly everyone there hates Americans. Then suddenly, we see two guards moving towards a truck and start shooting without any warning. Next thing you know, they’re riding in the truck shooting at everyone and everything in sight. The sequence of images ends with a bomb going off and blowing up people that some of the guards were supposedly getting to safety. And this is only the first few minutes of the film.
I am sure I don’t have to tell you that some American agency will send its people (hence Jamie Foxx and Jen Gardner) to find out what the heck happened out there… In the climate of very fragile relations between the American and the Saudi governments, it proves to be quite a challenge.
I must say I did enjoy the film, even though the camera moves were at times irritating (quick shots and close-ups as if filmed with a home video camera). It touches upon some of the delicate issues that many Americans simply and sadly didn’t get. But then again, coming from a country that was under another’s thumb for so long and having other nations trying to invade us throughout the history, there is no other way I could understand that film. And to me, this was mostly about the nature of the antagonism towards the Americans and some other Westerners that seems to be running deep in the Middle Eastern countries. And even though I absolutely don’t agree with their methods, I can understand where they come from and what drives them…
“The Kingdom” is not an easy film to watch and it may upset you in many ways but all in all it is worth seeing, even in spite of some typical American movie tricks (like three agents killing off the whole terrorist cell; give me a break!)… And if it makes you take a second glance at some of the issues it touches upon, all the better.