Review of King of the Sands

This is obviously a political motivated movie. The only reason this movie was made was because the Syrian director is a supporter of the Assad regime, and he didn't like the Saudi stance towards the civil war in Syria (anti-Assad). Plus, the Saudis before that knew his stance, so they banned him from working on the pan Arab channels. He also announced he will not work with Syrian actors from the opposition. About the film, it didn't make sense that someone will talk like that (Abdulaziz), it felt like a cartoonish evil character. Furthermore, the way that Ibn Saud's campaigns are almost like pillaging and bloodthirsty fake fundamentalists is very cliché when you know that Najdat Anzour's famous works were historical fantasy Arab series; so it fits his previous works. Also, trying so hard to draw obvious references to 9/11, or the London 7/7 bombings, just to link them with Ibn Saud, is obviously trying to steer the audience to only see the character in one spotlight, which is isn't good. And why the sex scenes in a supposedly 'historical' movie? It's beyond me. Strangely enough the lead actors were Italian. Did Najdat Anzour run out of English or even Arab actors? Not a good idea. There are many more to say about it, but in conclusion: It is a cartoonish and dubious in character, acting, and away from history, which is a wasted opportunity because of the political motivated stance behind it. I am saying a wasted opportunity, because no one did an English movie (without the Italians please) about the foundation of Saudi Arabia. Maybe the director gets at least a star from me for the idea, other than that, the whole thing is a sad state.