baroncoco
Herzog does history; and history loses.
The malignant schemes of Churchill, Lawrence, and Bell, which would fuel many of the problems of the modern Middle East, are seen as somehow ennobled simply on the basis of gender balance; when it was Bell, who once described Shi'ites as "animals", who may have been the worst of them (though it's a tough call).
And, as others have noted, the dates are all wrong.
Dreadful, Werner; political maneuvering at its worst.
SohrabAbbasAbhari
I don't know why a lot of people didn't like this movie , i thought this was an amazing movie , i would totally recommend this movie to everyone , everyone must watch this movie. Nicole Kidman did an awesome job in this movie, i thought that the beginning of the movie was very beautiful i like how they started with the dessert and the Persian farsi vocalist amazing i loved the vocals i thought that klaus badelt was awesome and the crew, everyone did an awesome job for this movie i think. I dunno why there are many bad reviews about this movie is not worse than other bad movies out there really.
westsideschl
Poor choice of actors as portrayals were not convincing (mostly just eye candy appeal), and acting seemed to be mostly rote memorization and regurgitate. Writers tried to rescue with emphasis on romantic scenes which were also not convincing. Adding a Lawrence character was almost a charade. No sense of the hard work that Kidman's character, Bell, must have put in/endured. Lots of desert scenes which seemed more Hollywood cute than a sweaty gritty actual depiction
gradyharp
Indeed, one of the first feminists to make a major mark on the world was Gertrude Bell and this cinematic dramatized biography, while magnificent to view and sumptuous in visual details, is not what we have grown to expect from writer/director Werner Herzog who has studied history, literature and theatre and founded his own production company in 1963. Has staged several operas, besides others in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan La Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his films. We have come to depend on his illumination of great people of history: in QUEEN OF THE DESERT he seems anchored in created a vastly impressive period piece rather than focus on the extraordinary accomplishments of Gertrude Bell.As the description states the film is a chronicle of British socialite Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century whose impact on the decisions made about the lands of Arabia and the Middle East were of major importance. She was a woman who left the comforts of life to become and intrinsic part of the great desert she loved so passionately. Gertrude is played with grace by Nicole Kidman, her love interests are Henry Cadogan played by James Franco (impressive in a romance drama for a change), and Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis). The supporting cast includes Jay Abdo as Gertrude's guide Fattuh, Christopher Fulford as Winston Churchill, ad Robert Pattison as Col. T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia).The photography is splendid (Peter Zeitlinger) as is the musical score by Klaus Badelt. QUEEN OF THE DESERT is a fine evening's entertainment – if only the film had focused more on the incredible life and achievements of Gertrude Bell
AD
