In Arabia in the '30s, the young prince Auda finds himself in the heart of conflict caused by the discovery of oil. He has to take up arms and choose between two enemies with opposing views, his two fathers; the one who gave him life, and the one who raised him.A large-scale production with an international cast, Black Gold presents the greatest of war sagas in the desert sands. Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zorro), Mark Strong (Robin Hood) and Freida Pinto (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) face off amidst spectacular action scenes, grandiose... horseback rides, and stunning special effects. [show more]
Exhilarating epic set in the Arabian Peninsula during the oil boom of the late 1920s. 'Black Gold' a.k.a. 'Day of the Falcon' sees rival rulers Emir Nesib (an excellent Antonio Banderas) and Sultan Amar (the superb Mark Strong) agree to a truce and draw up a demarcation line at a disputed tract of desert land known as the Yellow Belt.
Amar, having lost the war, sends his two sons to live with Nesib's family so that neither clan attacks the other again. Years later, Amar's son; Prince Auda (a heroic Tahar Rahim) marries Nesib's daughter; Princess Leyla (a smouldering Freida Pinto) but the arrival of American prospectors looking to exploit the Yellow Belt in a bid to find oil, re-ignites old hostilities: Emir Nesib sees it as an opportunity to enrich the region whereas the traditional and reserved Sultan Amar objects to the American presence.
Adapted from the book 'South of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia' a.k.a. 'The Great Thirst' a.k.a. 'The Arab' by Hans Ruesch. 'Black Gold' is a return to form by veteran director Jean-Jacques Annaud who creates a commendably old-fashioned, romantic adventure with breathtaking desert vistas, intense battle scenes and, most importantly, believable characters.
Tahar Rahim is a charismatic leading man and ably supported by the ever-reliable Riz Ahmed who plays an unorthodox young doctor. Mark Strong cuts a sober and enigmatic figure as the honourable patriarch. Freida Pinto looks stunning throughout and strives to make her character more than the token love interest whilst Antonio Banderas very nearly steals the show with his take on a complex and rewarding role.
The cast are so good that you rarely stop to consider that only one of them is actually Arab, for 'Black Gold' is such a carefully considered, subtle, mature, beautifully constructed film that few would mark it down for that. An undiscovered gem.
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Antonio Banderas and Mark Strong star as the leaders of two warring Arab states in this drama from French writer-director Jean-Jacques Annaud. In negotiations over the ownership of The Yellow Belt, the strip of sand that divides their territories, Nesib, Emir of Hobeika (Banderas), and Amar, Sultan of Salmaah (Strong), agree to leave the land unclaimed. To avoid future conflict, Nesib adopts Amar's two sons, Saleeh (Akin Gazi) and Auda (Tahar Rahim), taking them to his kingdom where they will grow up. Years later a Texan oil tycoon (Corey Johnson) visits Narib and informs him that there is oil in The Yellow Belt that could make his state rich. With his older brother having been killed in an attempt to get back to his father's land, Auda, who is in love with Nasib's daughter (Freida Pinto), is given the difficult task of keeping the peace between Hobeika and Salmaah.
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