Black Gold

There was one reason why I wanted to watch this Qatar, Italian and French production: Tahar Rahim that mesmerized me in A Prophet. Oddly enough Rahim role in this movie is quite similar to the one that had in A Prophet, which allows understanding how a director plus a good script can make the difference in a good actor performance as definitively his performance in this movie doesn’t look or feel as good as in Jacques Audiard film.

Jean-Jacques Annaud directing style doesn’t succeed handling this epic story set in the 1930s when oil was discovered in the Arab peninsula but the script does not help him either and above average production specs does not save movie that becomes like a pastiche of too many underdeveloped situations. It’s a shame as the dawn of the Arab oil boom is a story that hasn’t been told that many times and learning about the beginnings might help to understand whatever is happening today. Sigh, but this film will not give you much info anyway.

So only if you’re in the mood to watch good production values in some war fighting plus outdoor scenery and do not mind much following a fragmented story with below average actors performances, then maybe you will enjoy this movie as an escape moment. Yes there are good or well-known actors here like Rahim, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto and Mark Strong but maybe if producers had chosen unknown actors, viewers could enjoy more the story and pay less attention to how non-credible are their performances.

Enjoy.

Watch trailer @MOC