Posted on 09/27/2007 7:23:33 PM PDT by neverdem
Peter Berg’s new film dares to portray Americans as the good guys.
The Kingdom, Universal’s $70 million contribution to the burgeoning Iraq/War-on-Terror genre, will not hit theaters until September 28, but already word on the film is immensely encouraging: all the right people hate it. A predictable early reaction—surely a harbinger of hand-wringing to come—came from Variety critic John Anderson, who damned the film as “jingoistic,” complaining that it turns “anonymous, indigenous peoples into ducks at a shooting gallery.”
Having caught the film at a sneak preview this past weekend, I can confirm that lots of “indigenous peoples” get theirs in this terrifically entertaining thriller—but they are “anonymous” only in the way that we don’t know the names of the Nazi soldiers firing on our troops on Omaha Beach in The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan. We know who they are—bloodthirsty terrorists—and in The Kingdom they get their just deserts by the cartload, without apology.
This shouldn’t be a big deal, but of course it is. In a season featuring pictures from Brian De Palma and Paul Haggis that portray the War on Terror as an evil travesty and American troops as psychopathic murderers, to find a film so straightforwardly on “our side”—to use the sneer quotes preferred by the New York Times—is almost too much to hope for. Indeed, I kept waiting for the Americans to make a horrific mess of things, or at least for someone to ask some version of “Why do they hate us?” But down to a spot-on ending that recalls the slaughter of Daniel Pearl, that never happens. Instead, we hate them, and manifestly for the right reasons.
Not that The Kingdom is heavy handed in its politics or anything else. Produced by Michael Mann and directed by the gifted Peter Berg, the man responsible for both the film and TV versions of Friday Night Lights, it tells the story of an FBI team dispatched to Saudi Arabia after a terrorist attack on an American compound not unlike the real-life horror of the Khobar Towers. Very deftly, between the lines, it also conveys a chilling sense of a society frozen in repression. The problem here is not only terrorism, but Islamic culture itself, unalterably opposed to the independence of mind that is the FBI crew’s best weapon. Where else would we see a female medical examiner, on the verge of a breakthrough, suddenly, hysterically interrupted in her work when she reaches over to touch a Muslim victim? Or young children being schooled in murder even as they play with dolls and marbles? Or, for that matter, a State Department official so craven that he tailors his every word and gesture to avoid giving offense to those who embrace this culture?
The State Department man is played, with toothy obsequiousness, by Jeremy Piven, part of a terrific cast led by Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and Jason Bateman. But perhaps the most arresting performance of all is by an unknown, Ashraf Barhorn, as a Saudi colonel who comes to appreciate that American investigative methods are superior to those of his own closed society.
How good is this film? Let’s put it this way: in promotional appearances, director Berg has gone out of his way to deemphasize its political content. “I didn’t want to make something so political that people felt they were having spinach rammed down their throat,” he told one online interviewer. “I wanted people to be affected by a piece of entertainment.” If you live in Hollywood, that’s called making sure you still have a career when the dust clears.
Berg needn’t worry—I bet the film will be a blockbuster. In the suburban New York theater where I saw it, the audience, full of New York Times readers and NPR listeners, seemed not only shaken afterward, but a little confused: the Americans were the good guys, and they won. But reports have it that elsewhere in the country, audiences are cheering.
Wow, I thought it looked good in movie trailers, but held my breath lest I be bombarded with some anti-American leftie lovefest. Thanks for posting the review. I’ll be one of the ones cheering at the end!
I have a conflict tomorrow (yes it’s lame and stupid): though I can easily do both, it’s this movie and Halo 3. I’d be best off seeing the movie first.
I thought the movie was about how someone found the Katrina Hurricane machine built by Cheney and Rove being hidden in Saudi Arabia by Halliburton.
About time, can’t wait to see it!
It was spirited out of the country and is buried underground in the Syrian desert.
I was afraid it would be something like that!
If John Anderson hates it (he’s a communist film critic), the film must have some decency.
Hm.
I admit, I went to a movie recently, and there were three or four previews for movies involving Iraq and/or terrorism.
This was one of them, and I resolved not to see the movie. My first impression was that it would doggedly drive home the liberal talking point that a LEGAL effort not a MILITARY effort is the way to combat terrorism.
Granted, it was a preview, and often one cannot tell from those, but there were other movie previews...one had Susan Sarandon in it, and I had to explain to my brother that if a movie has her in it, you can be sure it is anti-military or anti-American.
Am I wrong about this movie?
“I thought the movie was about how someone found the Katrina Hurricane machine built by Cheney and Rove being hidden in Saudi Arabia by Halliburton”
LOL....I am glad to hear about a movie being an honest broker about the threat facing this country for once. May have to go see it!
BTW..those just wanting to curl up with a good book(well, ‘curl up’ isn’t exactly what you will do..’stay up’ is more like it)...I highly recommend:
‘The First Commandment’ by Brad Thor. I just finished it yesterday. It was great!
I wish they would make some of his books into a movie.
I thought the trailers looked good, too, but in the back of my mind I believed it wasn’t a movie I ever wanted to see because of the obvious. Now, I know it isn’t but I need to decide whether or not to see it in theaters or rent it.
I agree. And, LOL, not lame and stupid. Everyone's abuzz about Halo 3. It's supposed to be quite good, but I know shockingly little about it (and no Xbox), so for me it's an easy decision.
Don't be silly. The weather machine was moved to Dubai.
I’ll venture back into the theaters to see this one!
3:10 to Yuma was excellent as well as Hot Fuzz (At Blockbuster)
I saw a sneak peek a few weeks ago. It is really good. I was a little concerned because one review I saw had said “Syriana with more explosions”. That is categorically incorrect.
While we aren’t portrayed as perfect, we certainly are not the bad guys. And it makes the way even foreign women are treated very poorly there. When all the men go to see a prince, Jennifer Garner is left because it isn’t proper for her to eat with men.
And the final 30 minutes or so is a gun battle that manages to top Mann’s “Heat”.
About the only disappointing part for me was they didn’t include U2’s “Bullet the Blue Sky” like they did in the previews.
According to that reviewer, yes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.