Theeb is the story of two brothers Theeb and Hussein who act as Pilgrim Guides to a British Officer who as part of his mission must find a Roman Well. Upon their arrival at the Well, the group are ambushed by raiders and all of the group (except Theeb) are killed by the raiders. With limited skills and knowledge, Theeb finds himself facing the perilous task of surviving in the desert against all odds.
Director and writer Naji Abu Nowar is clearly in no rush to tell his story here and this 'slow-burn approach' is something that invariably can divide audiences. I personally feel that if a director/writer is opting to allow the story to unfold slowly then they need to make sure that the audience are able to become involved with the characters or care for their plight and so on and so forth. This is part of the problem with Theeb in that the characters here aren't really that interesting and no real dynamic seems to exist between them. Also the first part of the story (which sees them being guided to a Well) simply isn't that compelling. There are momentary bursts of energy (such as when Theeb tries to open the British Officer's 'secret box') but for the most part it is quite dull and uninvolving.
Another problem I had with this film is the way that it was sold to me; the summary of this film on Sky Movies reads "Oscar-nominated coming-of-age tale about a young Bedouin boy fighting for survival in the desert during the First World War". OK the coming-of-age part I can sort of see, but a fight for survival? Where did this aspect of the story come into play? A fight for survival suggests that we are supposed to fear for someone's life and in all honesty I never really felt scared for Theeb which took away much of the intensity. Sky Movies are perhaps partly to blame as their summary massively over sells the film and suggests it to be something that it isn't. That's just one of the reasons that I came away from this film feeling slightly disappointed.
There is one other thing here that I didn't really understand and that is why Theeb didn't just tell the raider to take him back to his tribe when he originally had the gun pointed at him?
Theeb is atmospheric and beautifully shot, but the story unfolds far too slowly and even when it got going it didn't really grip me and only held my interest at sporadic intervals.
Director and writer Naji Abu Nowar is clearly in no rush to tell his story here and this 'slow-burn approach' is something that invariably can divide audiences. I personally feel that if a director/writer is opting to allow the story to unfold slowly then they need to make sure that the audience are able to become involved with the characters or care for their plight and so on and so forth. This is part of the problem with Theeb in that the characters here aren't really that interesting and no real dynamic seems to exist between them. Also the first part of the story (which sees them being guided to a Well) simply isn't that compelling. There are momentary bursts of energy (such as when Theeb tries to open the British Officer's 'secret box') but for the most part it is quite dull and uninvolving.
Another problem I had with this film is the way that it was sold to me; the summary of this film on Sky Movies reads "Oscar-nominated coming-of-age tale about a young Bedouin boy fighting for survival in the desert during the First World War". OK the coming-of-age part I can sort of see, but a fight for survival? Where did this aspect of the story come into play? A fight for survival suggests that we are supposed to fear for someone's life and in all honesty I never really felt scared for Theeb which took away much of the intensity. Sky Movies are perhaps partly to blame as their summary massively over sells the film and suggests it to be something that it isn't. That's just one of the reasons that I came away from this film feeling slightly disappointed.
There is one other thing here that I didn't really understand and that is why Theeb didn't just tell the raider to take him back to his tribe when he originally had the gun pointed at him?
Theeb is atmospheric and beautifully shot, but the story unfolds far too slowly and even when it got going it didn't really grip me and only held my interest at sporadic intervals.