Comments on: The Kingdom: Finally a great movie … that Americans will probably hate

By: Marjorie

Marjorie — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:21:24 +0000

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.

By: limpia

limpia — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 03:56:01 +0000

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)

By: Sheema

Sheema — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:03:25 +0000

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!

By: Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 04:13:20 +0000

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

By: Sheema

Sheema — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 03:06:37 +0000

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?

By: limpia

limpia — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:05:47 +0000

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.

By: Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:31:46 +0000

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

By: Danial

Danial — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:34:33 +0000

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.

By: Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:35:00 +0000

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

By: Omid T (Iran/USA)

Omid T (Iran/USA) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:21:10 +0000

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!