This epic movie from 1980 stars Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar - a bedouin who led a rebellion against the Italian colonial forces in the 1920s. Oliver Reed plays Graziani the Italian general sent by Mussolini to sort the situation out. Lasting 3 1/2 hours this is a movie that isn't going to be the family's favourite but if you are the sort of person who enjoyed 'Lawrence of Arabia' you should watch this and watch it a.s.a.p! I think its a crime that this film isn't better known - I vaguely remember a feature on the director/producer Moustapha Akkad but it went largely ignored in 1980.Production values are high - the vehicles and uniforms of the Italian are stupendous - seeing the columns of fiat tanks and armoured cars will make your jaw drop - makes Hollywood epics set in the desert look a bit stingy by comparison. Of course it's not Hollywood so you get a take on the whole subject of colonialism that you won't see by watching anything similar - this film makes no question of the fact that colonialism is bad and resistance to it is noble.
So invest in this movie and give your eyes a treat. Such a shame that there will be no more Akkad movies - this one is a classic.
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1 comment:
I wondered where the vehicles came from too - but quite a few are destroyed so I assumed they had them made up for the production. The money must have gone somewhere and the Libyan settings and Bedouins would be relatively straighforward. There are probably a few gathering dust in a warehouse somewhere
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