A gorgeous, cracking adventure with a smart ring of authenticity, full of pulpy twists and perils, and with a sweetly naive but gruffly charming young hero. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
In the Arabian desert in 1916, a young Bedouin boy, Theeb (Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat), invites himself along on what, we may imagine, he supposes will be a grand adventure: his elder brother, Hussein (Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen) is leading a lost English soldier on a secret mission to a distant railroad line. Theeb, who is perhaps eight or nine years old, and the youngest son of his tribe’s recently deceased sheik, doesn’t know what a railroad is, but he is entranced by the mysterious — and strikingly pale and blond! — stranger, and the enticing wooden box he carries, over which the soldier freaks out if Theeb gets too close.
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
In the Arabian desert in 1916, a young Bedouin boy, Theeb (Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat), invites himself along on what, we may imagine, he supposes will be a grand adventure: his elder brother, Hussein (Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen) is leading a lost English soldier on a secret mission to a distant railroad line. Theeb, who is perhaps eight or nine years old, and the youngest son of his tribe’s recently deceased sheik, doesn’t know what a railroad is, but he is entranced by the mysterious — and strikingly pale and blond! — stranger, and the enticing wooden box he carries, over which the soldier freaks out if Theeb gets too close.
- 2/28/2016
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
1916. The Ottoman Empire. A vast, arid landscape. All part of one of the greatest cinema epics of all time (actually Steven Spielberg watches it before he begins a directing a feature). Of course we’re talking about David Lean’s Lawrence Of Arabia. But not in this case. Same setting, same period, very different film. This new motion picture is told through the eyes of the title character, Theeb (Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat). This boy of eight or nine is part of an isolated tribe of Bedouins. His father was the head of said tribe, but he and Theeb’s mother have died. His older, teenage brother Hussein (Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen) has taken on the parental role, teaching the lad who to find water, tend the goats, and fire a rifle (lots of raiders and rebels about). One night as the boys, along with the tribe elders, gather about the communal fire,...
- 11/8/2015
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar’s desert coming-of-age thriller Theeb at times plays like a corrective to Lawrence of Arabia. It’s set in 1916, during World War I, when the Arabian Peninsula was still under Ottoman rule and the British were working with local tribes to overthrow them. You wouldn’t really know these geopolitics from looking at the film, though: Told from the point of view of a young bedouin boy, this tale unfolds very much in the timeless, spare world of the desert. But these are not the sensuously undulating, lunar dunes of David Lean’s masterpiece; rather, the desert in Theeb feels intimate, rough, real. You can run your hands through the sand and feel the flies on your face. That realism extends to the characters as well, thankfully. Living in the desert, Theeb (Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat) and his older brother Hussein (Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen) are the sons of a recently departed,...
- 11/7/2015
- by Bilge Ebiri
- Vulture
If the impetus behind many feature debuts — great and terrible alike — is to proclaim a helmer’s talents for all who might bother listening, Theeb‘s greatest distinction lies in its reliance on the misunderstood. The impression left by Naji Abu Nowar, credited as a co-writer alongside Bassel Ghandour, is a greater interest in what we must presume and concede than what we can understand and apply, instead trusting that his collaborators will utilize their own strengths — strengths often secondary to the logic or understanding that might go into a single moment — for harmonizing a vision of dangerous lands.
With tonal and pacing sensibilities that are nestled somewhere between Jauja and Timbuktu on my personal “languid, vista-dominated films of 2015″ chart, it’s mostly built on intrigue — the “who” and “what” of its events coinciding with the “how” of a scenario’s possible outcomes. Its action is set circa 1916 in the...
With tonal and pacing sensibilities that are nestled somewhere between Jauja and Timbuktu on my personal “languid, vista-dominated films of 2015″ chart, it’s mostly built on intrigue — the “who” and “what” of its events coinciding with the “how” of a scenario’s possible outcomes. Its action is set circa 1916 in the...
- 11/6/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Jordan’s submission to the upcoming Academy Awards’ Best Foreign-Language Film category will be Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb.
Theeb, from debut director Naji Abu Nowar, has been selected by Jordan’s Oscar committee as the country’s official entry for the 2016 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Telling the story of a young Bedouin boy embarking on a dangerous journey to escort a British officer across the desert, the film stars Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh and Jack Fox.
Theeb premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2014, where it picked up the Venice Horizons Award for best director, before screening in Toronto and London.
Fortissimo Films is handling international sales. Film Movement has picked up distribution rights in the Us.
Theeb, from debut director Naji Abu Nowar, has been selected by Jordan’s Oscar committee as the country’s official entry for the 2016 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Telling the story of a young Bedouin boy embarking on a dangerous journey to escort a British officer across the desert, the film stars Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh and Jack Fox.
Theeb premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2014, where it picked up the Venice Horizons Award for best director, before screening in Toronto and London.
Fortissimo Films is handling international sales. Film Movement has picked up distribution rights in the Us.
- 9/9/2015
- ScreenDaily
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