The Kingdom
The Kingdom (2007)
Starring - Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Ali Suliman
Directed by - Peter Berg
A film that will send a shudder down the spine of both the United States and the Saudi authorities, The Kingdom explores the cultural differences and similarities that can bind the two countries, and tear them apart.
The start pulls no punches on the relationship between the US and the Saudi's down the ages. Then we get into the meat of the film. A terrorist bomb ruins a simple siftball game as local onlookers through their binoculars appear to have a scary sense of what is about to happen. The bomb kills many American's and leads agent Fluery (Foxx) to put together an elite FBI team to go to Saudi Arabia to try and find justice.
To start with they find their pusuit worthless as the dos and donts of local culture hamstring the investigation, as the Saudi's only want to find the killer on their terms. Foxx's understanding of the importance of learning local way and using the personal touch to get unlikely people on board, including Saudi officers, they eventually turn this around and the team eventually get the right to carry out the investigation they want.
This eventually leads to a realisation that to chatch the killer they need to go outside normal compound boarders and into real Saudi Arabia. Their hosts reluctantly agree. The subplot of the family who saw the initial bomb go off and a look into their life reminds us that we are delaing with human beings with families and children too, but in this case with a deadlt twist, leading the FBI eam to fight for their lives while trying to deliver justice to those murdered in the bomb.
The film is a high paced and chilling ride into the realities all too common in todays world. Foxx leads the way with a first rate performance, The section between him and the Saudi officer discussing The Increidble Hulk and the Six Million Doller Man demonstrated only too well that when different cultures meet, there is still plenty of common ground. the film is well directed and put together and keeps moving along nicely. The ending is one to test the emotions the full 360 degrees, with a stark reminder of the intractable ultimate problem, the course of the film may offer some starters as solutions, but it works because it is balanced, not an all out attack on one side or the other but a good overview of the strengths and defects of the argument from either side. It is also not so pretentious to pretend there are any easy answers to the middle-east.
MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - RATING 'A' - A wonderful film, great action, not scared to take on a huge subject and a performance that may put Jamie Foxx in the frame for this years best actor races.
