the future king, helped him regaining the land but also left him with a forever nostalgic memory.the casting did a great job signed up two great actors to play the foe against each other. the development of the young hostage son from a geeky bookworm nerd to a great man with a vision for its land and its future was also very well crafted.too shame that the extremity of the strong belief of the Muslim religion didn't free that country but enslaved it later with tyranny and totalitarianism. but for this movie itself, this outcome was not what the screenplay and the director really wanted to portray in the first place. what they've tried to tell by this movie were love, loyalty, truthfulness and humanity before that black gold buried and suffocated the whole country's past and future. its later corrution and cruelty of the house of the saud were not included in what they wanted to tell in this particular movie.this is a wonderful and fantastic film with great cinematography and sound track. an almost perfect romantic saga.

follows some ill-thought clichés... Half of the people shown on the film would never pass for Arabs... really never... it's more likely that i would pass for an Arab and I'm Greek than half of the cast of the movie... moreover the "heaviness", if it can be a valid term, of the language reminds me more of Persians and less of Arabs ...Anyways other than that, it is a good film worth seeing, it will make you worth the time.

feeling of a changing world that matters, the struggle between different attitudes, not the history lesson. I do not know why this artistic freedom is making some viewers complain. Hundreds of western movies described battles between soldiers and Indians which were only vaguely similar to actual history, so I don't think this discussion is necessary. "Black Gold" is an adventure movie, first of all. Actually, the makers balance very well between the entertainment value and ambitions beyond that, neither too heavy nor too light. A good compromise was found between a commercial approach and content that has something to say. When the oil flows over the ground, useless like a pond of black ink, one wonders: is it worth all that fighting? One review here said 'the director made a mistake, there is no pipeline', which proves that the poetry of pictures is really lost on some people. Anyway. The makers, supported by the Emirate of Qatar, succeeded in putting the Arabs in the focus, and if the American guy from Texas Oil remains a cartoon character with a silly hat, it's hardly an accident. Best actors to me were Tahar Rahim as Prince Auda and Mark Strong as Amar, his father. Antonio Banderas, however, had a license for staring, it seems. Any time he has got a close-up without much to say: yes, he stares in an interesting way. The director could have told him him not to overdo it, but I guess it's easier said than done.

won't be able to enjoy this movie. But if you can suspend your prejudice long enough to be convinced, they do a fine job of conveying how a totally foreign and ancient culture can make more than a little sense in today's world. Is it all fantasy, these unusually noble men with their deep distrust of western values? I doubt it. There are always ineffable things about a people's true dreams and character that have little to do with their actual history, that can only really be expressed in art. If I were Arab I'd be very happy to see a movie like this about how my forefathers reacted to the first oil wells and the riches they promised.The lead, Tahar Rahim, is spot on as the bookish Prince Auda, turned fighter. His father Mark Strong as the Sultan Amar has some of the best lines and is a strong and welcome presence throughout. Antonio Banderas worked for me as Emir Nesib and I admire his entire career. There's no doubt in my mind he was fully committed to this movie though some apparently found his performance distracting; I did not. As others have pointed out, Freida Pinto and Liya Kebede, as the female leads, are both fairly wasted here though there's something true about how minor their roles are given this is mostly a story about change, war and father-son relations.No, I might forever be labeled a low brow for writing this, but I enjoyed this film much more than I did the highly acclaimed Lawrence of Arabia. This is a far more earnest and effecting film and deserves a great deal more praise than it's likely to get in the west given our politics. That's truly a shame as we could use a little sympathy and insight into these people.

modern and liberal Emir Nesib sees the opportunity to improve and modernize the life of his tribe, building hospitals and schools, and the American Company begins the exploitation of the oil field, violating the peace pact.Nasib sends a representative to make an agreement with the fundamentalist Sultan Amar, but he does not accept the offer. Saleh decides to travel to Salma to talk to his father and kills his two companions, but he is captured and murdered by Tarik. Prince Auda Tahar Rahim and Princess Leyla Freida Pinto are in love with each other since they were children and they get married with the full permission of Nesib. Auda travels to Salma expecting to convince his father to associate to Nesib, but the conservative Amar does not accept the proposal and decides to fight against Nesib. Now, Prince Auda shall decide in which side he will pick and fight. "Black Gold" is another wonderful epic adventure by the French director Jean-Jacques Annaud with a great international cast and wonderful cinematography in an environment of "Lawrence of Arabia". The story is entertaining, the soundtrack is very beautiful and the DVD has magnificent Extras showing the Making Of and the Special Effects. My vote is eight.Title Brazil : "O Príncipe do Deserto" "The Prince of the Desert"

behind. An American Oil company finds oil within the neutral zone and approaches the ruling king to gain permission to pump the oil. When the ruling king agrees and thereby breaks the old peace treaty, he gains wealth, but also sparks the flames of war. One of the two sons of the defeated kings, who were life-term hostages is a bookworm and is loved very much by the ruling king's daughter,becomes so his son-in-law and tries his best to become a peace emissary to avoid a war. After his appeals to his own father fail, he must choose a side and fate foresees a transformation of the protagonist. Will his transformation be successful and can he avoid for his country to be torn apart in a civil war and still find love and happiness in his personal life as well as for his to be born nation?Find out and watch this epic movie with a fantastic soundtrack from James Horner and get drawn in the world of kings, Bedouins and the unforgiving Arabian desert 80 years ago - you'll like the cinematography. My vote: a fascinating 8 of 10.

familiar of the Arabian ways. I thought it was getting weary and a little bit predictable so I started fidgeting on my seat, but I found out serves well as a foundation for the greater part to come. The second half undoubtedly kept me at the edge of my seat with unexpected events, humor, thrill of war and survival all slowly building up to an epic tale ...so to say this film is quite balanced with all its elements. An admiration and appreciation grew with the struggle and the conflicts in retaining traditional culture and introducing modernization faced by our characters, and it does lay out a lot of things for the audience to think about the motivations of using wealth of oil to lead the riches of these Arabian countries today, when they leave the cinema.Tahir Rahim has served well as the main character Prince Auda, but his rise a leader was never fully realized by the audience. He was instead thought of as the normal humble quiet man with great ideas and moral, which rests a little bit uneasy with the leader archetype. However, there were references to the ways of Prophet Muhammad in a way that Auda was not aiming to be a hero or a leader, but rather a visionary. Pinto Princess Leyla fails expectations as she only plays the part of a loyal wife with a few cheesy lines and nothing more. Though I think it is important to realize that this is close to reality of the Arabian culture than most. One can't compare it to Prince of Persia and expect women to play a huge role in a fight because there's clearly a respected difference in the role of men in women in the Arabic culture that time. Having said that, I don't think Pinto has lived up to her potential, so her appearance in the film only serves as a name. I would also like to praise Riz Ahmed for his role as Ali – a humorous and lovable character despite his background as an outcast.What I think of the movie? It's great. I really enjoyed it. It's even better if you have a good idea about the culture, traditions and a bit of understanding about the religion. If not, it definitely stirs up a great deal of curiosity. To me, the movie catches almost all of the Arabian essentials, not just about the oil discovery. It also creeps closer to the modern Arab reality rather than capturing a glossy fantastical events to please its audience, which I like. What I think is unbelievable however, is the budget they spent for this movie. It sure doesn't seem like it at all, but the enchantment does somehow work.