ذيب
THEEB (2014)
THEEB (2014)
Over the years there have been a number of Bedouin TV series (and a few TV movies), but never have we had a film like Theeb. It is, in essence, a western — more precisely, a west Asian western — unlike anything previously produced in the region. We don’t often get genre films in Arab cinema, so it was interesting to see this told, and told properly without falling into any caricatures. A multilayered layered experience of the end of the old ways. The film’s tone is as tough as its harsh setting, where everything is hiding from death. Much like a last breath, the film’s pacing takes everything in and lets you live these final moments quietly clinging to a life that will never be again. — WAEL HATTAR
Country of Origin: Jordan
Run Time: 1h 40m
Language: Arabic
Rank in the list: 14th
Genre(s): Drama
Synopsis
1916. While war rages in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein raises his younger brother Theeb (“Wolf”) in a traditional Bedouin community that is isolated by the vast, unforgiving desert. The brothers’ quiet existence is suddenly interrupted when a British Army officer and his guide ask Hussein to escort them to a water well located along the old pilgrimage route to Mecca. So as not to dishonor his recently deceased father, Hussein agrees to lead them on the long and treacherous journey. The young, mischievous Theeb secretly chases after his brother, but the group soon find themselves trapped amidst threatening terrain riddled with Ottoman mercenaries, Arab revolutionaries, and outcast Bedouin raiders. Naji Abu Nowar’s powerful and assured directorial debut, set in the land of Lawrence of Arabia, is a wondrous “Bedouin Western” about a boy who, in order to survive, must become a man and live up to the name his father gave him.
Trailer
Notable Cast and Crew
Naji Abu Nowar
Director
Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat
Cast (Theeb)
Hussein Askalany
Cast (Hussein)
Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh
Cast (The Guide)
