Despite rave reviews, Hollywood's latest production about the 'war on terror' caused controversy among Saudi critiques and internet bloggers alike, as most of them considered it highly offensive in the way it portrayed Saudi culture.
As New York Post critic, Lou Lumenick, pointed out the movie is xenophobic stating that "The Kingdom" which he dubbed The King-dumb "provides the Islamic world another reason to hate America."
Although some Saudis considered it good propaganda depicting Saudi as anti-terrorism it was offensive enough to get it banned in two Gulf States for its "false depiction of the facts."
"The Kingdom" starring Academy Award Winner Jamie Foxx and directed by Peter Berg opens with a quick review of the history of the largest contemporary Arabian kingdom.
The movie tries to explain how “Wahabi Islamic warriors who are purely anti-West” joined forces with the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Saud, to establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the beginning of the 20th century.
Based on true events, “The Kingdom” narrates the story of an FBI unit that travels to Riyadh to investigate a terrorist attack on a Western housing compound that killed around 19 Americans.
The movie shows dense Saudi security forces that initially refuse to cooperate with the superior FBI agents, until a Saudi-American unit is formed, eventually bringing down the terrorists.
Although Saudi Arabia has no cinema's Saudis were able to get a copy of the movie on the internet and many bloggers reacted angrily to what they considered a “misleading and false representation of the Wahabi beliefs.”
Their major concern was the way the movie confused Wahabi “reformation” principles with the expiatory groups which support terrorism.
Israeli born actor Ashraf Barhom who played the role of Colonel Faris Al Ghazi was also slammed for accepting to play the part of an ignorant Saudi officer, who was unable to do anything without American assistance.
Some were angered by the movies portrayal of Saudi officers as naive and unqualified, with no resources other than violence to investigate the attacks. Critiques were also disappointed by the way the Saudi prince was shown as unfamiliar with his surroundings.
Saudi internet users went on to discuss the “exaggerated and unrealistic” way Berg portrayed women and non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia.
However not everyone felt the movie left a bad taste in their mouth, Saudi author Adil Al Turiafi believes that “The Kingdom” conveys a good message about his country.
“Apart from some exaggerations, the movie shows how enthusiastic we are in fighting local and international terrorism,” Turiafi wrote in Al Riyadh newspaper.
Turiafi believes that Saudis should be more open minded and abandon the wide-spread radical mentality that “makes us unable to accept any type of criticism and (consequently) start reconsidering our religion excessiveness,” he said.
He added that Saudis were to blame for any misinterpretation of their culture and said “we are the ones responsible for that. Why do we always pick up others’ mistakes instead of put some effort to fix the wrong impressions others have of us?”
On the official side, while a source at the Kuwaiti Information Ministry said that the movie presents a “false depiction of the facts,” the Saudi government is yet to comment on the movie. It remains to be seen what the official response to the movie, if any, will be.
Written by Yaman R. Zeitouni. |
