Black Gold Review
At the start of this tale we see that two Arab factions at war have come to a standstill. The agreement they have to keep the peace is that one leader, Nesib (Antonio Banderas) will take the sons of his enemy, Amar (Mark Strong) and raise him as his own. They then agree to never invade each other’s territory and the slip of land dividing the two shall not be claimed by either.
Cut to: many years later when both sons have grown up. One is headstrong and impulsive; the other (Tahar Rahim) is bookish and shy.
It tyhen turns out that the area of land the two leaders agreed not to claim is rich with oil. Nesib then decides to break the rules in order to help his people profit. But through doing so he creates a rift and has to decide how much to use his enemies Sons as a bargaining chip.
This is all still just the beginning of the film. When we finally find the character we are following and it is the young… we find he has grown into the bookish, shy and sad younger brother. But as his position as captive/ adopted son is abused to extremes we find him challenged in his allegiances even when he is sent home to his more barbaric and traditional father. Literally he is placed between two completely different tyrants for fathers and it is his quest from here onwards which becomes the focus for the main segment of the story.
It’s a shame the set up takes so long and leads us down various false paths of narrative – But once you have accepted that this is a journeyman story told in all its desert epicness, it is an enjoyable if fairly by the numbers plot. Look to the basic elements of any journeyman story – be it a Ben-Hur or a comic book hero and you will find all the familiar elements in place. There is love, loss, betrayal and eventually the emergence of a strong leader with a tortured soul, and a scarred battle history.
Anyone expecting a There Will Be Blood type document of a family coming into oil and the political offset of this cultural change will be disappointed. This is more The English Patient meets Lawrence of Arabia but with a more linear and simplistic tale at the spine.
James Horner pops up to provide a grand score, but often comes off similar to his grand themes used in his Mask of Zorro score. He was a good choice to use, but hasn’t developed enough ideas to really help the music swell with grandeur. It is graceful for sure, but just lacking in stronger themes that you could be humming long after the film ends.
The “Black Gold” of the title then is merely an element that is introduced early and then brought back near the end but never gone into as much depth as you’d perhaps like. Maybe that story would make for a good documentary.
Steven Hurst