The Kingdom: Finally a great movie … that Americans will probably hate
September 29th, 2007Well, I went to see “The Kingdom” this afternoon at the local theater. It was a slow day but it was a great movie. And as soon as you hear an Arab say that a movie about the Middle East is great, I know, you’re thinking, what, another “Paradise Now”?
Well, tough. The Kingdom is a great movie. No wonder it’s getting trashed by the critics. Not enough Arab-bashing for ya? Huh? Huh? And no wonder there were only about 25 people in the theater (which seats maybe 300). That’s not a good sign for any Saturday movie premiere weekend. Yes, Americans who have Hollywood and television fantasies pumping into their veins intravenously, have pulled the plug on this film because, why? It’s fair?
Here’s a movie that demonizes Arabs, draws a direct link to the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001 — reminding everyone that the subject of the film is terrorism in Saudi Arabia, and that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabian. So why did I like it? Because the hero in the film was, Oh My God! An Arab. An Arab with an attitude who you come to like in a movie in America, the land of the free to be racist bigots?
You see, I don’t have a problem with films that portray Arabs as terrorists. Many terrorists have been Arab. But when films only present Arabs as the bad guys and never offers any significant positive side — as almost every Israeli film made by the notorious Golan-Globus filmmaking bigots thrived on and more than 250 of some 253 films made over the past 70 years that touched on or focused on Arabs or Arab themes. I only have a problem when the only thing in the film that is Arab is bad. But when you present both sides, that’s fine with me.
For example, I would love to see a movie about the eight American marines involved in the rape and murder of a young Iraqi girl. Four of the Marine murderers were targeted for punishment because they actually participated in the rape (three received stiff sentences, so far) but the other four were punished and slapped on the hands. This is one of the few criminal felonies committed by American Marines who 1) were caught, 2) were tried and 3) were convicted that resulted in stiff sentences for three of the convicted murderers. I mean, the girl was 14 years old, not some New York prostitute, and the rapists then murdered her family to cover up their crimes.
Oh, come to think of it Brian De Palma has made a movie about the rape, murder and massacre called “Redacted” which will be coming out soon. Can’t wait to see how Americans keep movie theater seats empty for that movie!
Still, The Kingdom is a beginning. It is far better than Edward Zwick’s 1998 film starring Denzel Washington called “The Siege,” which portrayed Arabs and specifically Palestinians as terrorist bent on destroying America — we know Palestinians in their lust for blood only target the poor innocent Israelis who are merely trying to sweep away some sand to turn rocks into rose gardens! (I published a great feature for NEWSWEEK Magazine back in 1998 on the movie, trashy the images in it). “The Siege” was filled with underlying political messages including one portraying the only real Arab “hero” in the film, played by Tony Shalhoub, a Muslim FBI agent of Lebanese heritage who slams the face of a Palestinian suspect during a backseat interrogation, and then tells the real hero, Washington, the very sensitive and sympathetic but concerned African American FBI agent, something to the effect of, “Wait till I tell you what his (Palestinian) people did to my (Lebanon) country.”
Pure political crap that takes up the Phalangist line — the true inheritors of Fascism. I mean, the Phalange modeled themselves not after the Nazis, to be fair, but after the Fascist parties in France and in Spain, which was called “The Phalange” Party. They saluted with a straight arm up in the air that many simply concluded was a mimic of the Nazi salute, though it really was not. But who cares about facts in Hollywood?
The Kingdom stars Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, as four FBI investigators who jump through hoops to get to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terrorist attack against American oil company workers during a daytime picnic and baseball game. Jeremy Pivens does his masterful performance, as always, as a State Department smart alec. But the star is the tremendous character played by Ashraf Barhoum (Barhom) whpo plays the “Arab” hero of the film, Col. Al-Ghazi. Al-Ghazi is the Saudi upstart officer who is constantly trying to keep the Saudi government police and military ont he straight and narrow path. You may remember Barhoum from another controversial film, “Paradise Now” which the Israelis attacked with a formal public relations campaign because somehow they didn’t think it was good to show the human side of two Palestinians who felt that their future was so distraught and absent of hope that strapping on a suicide belt was a better option.
And Barhom starred in “The Syrian Bride.”
Of course, never mind that most Arabs will hate the film because the Islamicism is spreading fast through the once secular Arab World and Islamicists (who are not the same as Muslims) are a growing force of fanatics who want their religion to dominate the world and replace all secular freedoms, and they happen not to like ANY criticism of Islam of any kind.
Actually, I am not sure who will hate “The Kingdom,” more, the Americans whose sons are fighting a stupid unjustified war in Iraq, or the Arabs who are also fighting a stupid unjustified war in Iraq, too.
The ending that everyone is trashing refers to a political statement that is so fair it is nauseating to the hate-mongers in the world like ABC Radio’s Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the bigot of bigots or Shah-n-Shah himself, Glenn Beck. (The name alone makes me nauseous I hear and see his hatred so often on TV … yecht!)
Oh, and to make matters worse, it was filmed in Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. I can just hear the Red Necks in America screaming, “We took away der port authority contraction and now we give dem Hally-wood?” Shuup, morons! It was Dubai that they gave the Port Authority contract to and then took it away because of bigotry and hatred, not Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. (Okay, Dubai is a part of the UAE … but NOT the UAE.)
– Ray Hanania
www.ArabWritersGroup.com
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Hmm…I guess we will have to go see it. I wrote another post that was a bit more skeptical. Always good to be proven wrong!
Hey Omid … sorry, I saw your post after I published my own … I was justa ble to get away today
… and I figurewd, okay, let’s go get angry at another “hate the Ay-rabs movie” … but it wasn’t bad at all …
Anyway, best regards
Ray Hanania
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com
No offense but Lebanese aren’t the only people that hate Palestinians in the Arab world.
The Mahdi Army in Iraq have recently made headlines in January calling on all Palestinians inside Iraq to “leave or prepare to die”. Of course, that was spurred by the many Palestinians who were openly mourning the loss of Saddam Hussein, but doesn’t make it right.
You’re right Danial. It wasn’t about the hate of Palestinians that bothered me in the Siege, but the fact that while the film claimed to have included a “positive Arab character,” they poisoned that claim when they had the character reflect that negative dialogue which, as most Palestinians and Lebanese know, is very hurtful to both sides. It did reflect the feelings of a small population of Lebanese but not the bigger Arab image that Shalhoub’s character could have claimed to represent balancing off The Siege. That was one reason why I trashed it so hard, including in my NEWSWEEK feature (which drew about 650 handwritten letters — in 1998, handwritten letters were still the main way to communicate
… I have those letters by the way and always wanted to write a book about how an idea can be interpreted by readers … most of the letters, given to me by NEWSWEEK, were written by Americans who were very hateful of Arabs and said some ugly things … many actually 
But ugliness sells
… it would have been a fascinating book, but re-typing all those letters would have been a task
I am finishing a new book, (Tentative title: “The New Activists Guide to Strategic Activism”) which should be out in a few weeks … (Middle East Youth as an example of perfect world blogging is in it
… and offers a range of strategies to side step the biased, bigoted and one-sided American media; how to change it and make the media more principled and professional 
And I and three other writers are finishing a rewrite of Fiddler on the Roof called Soldier on the Roof. Very funny, musical and a parody of the Jewish Russian plot …
okay. It’s Sunday and I feel like writing
Ray Hanania
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_kingdom/
thought you might want to read clips of the reviews from this website i use prior to going to a movie- i hope it appears as a usable link. sorry, if not.
Speaking of controversial filsm featuring Middle Eastern issues, does anyone know anything about ‘O Jerusalem!’?
I believe it’s supposed to come out this month, though I have a suspicion it might not make it to Malaysia.
Ray and anyone else, what are your thoughts on it? It’s based on the book of the same title, which I’d like to read, but although the book is supposed to be impartial I do get the vague impression that it is slightly biased.
Anyone have any comments on this?
O’Jerusalem is a great work of fiction based on some facts
… although not as exaggerated at Exodus, which was purely fiction, based on even fewer facts (actually commission by the Government of Israel through a wel known PR agent at the time who then hired Leon Uris to write the story — smart public relations.) Too bad when it comes to PR the Arabs have NONE — ZILCH — ZERO 
O’Jerusalem is described as “A Supercharged, spellingbinding tale of Israel’s battle for identity” not as a balanced portrayal of events … Larry Collins and DOminique LaPierre are great writers but the book is purely one-sided like all great books outside of the “No one reads academic books” where almost all the books on Palestine sleep on dusty library shelves.
Ray Hanania
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com
Thanks for this, Ray. That’s disappointing, but I kinda suspected as much anyway…
I’d still like a chance to watch the movie though. I love Said Taghmaoui.
And don’t worry, I’m one of those people who actually pick up and read the books on those dusty shelves!
I saw the kingdom and liked it pretty well, as did the audience in mainstream usa. I particularly liked the arab star and his scenes, as well as the ending.btw- i listed the link, ray, to /rottentomatoes to show u that the reviews i was seeing were not citing the politics so much as the dramatic flow(in other words, regular type comments one might see on a movies pace etc)
I bought a copy of the KINGDOM recently, and I have to say that the actor ASHRAF BARHOUM is who makes this a special movie.This guy is so good.He’s sexy,beautiful and a first class actor. I just love this guy. I watch this movie almost everyday, and the way he plays the colonel is so spot on. I hope we’ll see him doing lots more AMERICAN movies.