It’s 1916, and the great Ottoman Empire is fraying around the edges. World War I has created cracks in the lands ruled by the Ottomans, and the British have set their sights on the wide and supposedly empty regions on the far edges.
The Arab revolt against the Ottomans in the Hejaz — the area now known as Jordan and Saudi Arabia — aided by the British, is moving into full swing.
For young Theeb, or “Wolf” in Arabic, now heir with his brothers to his father’s leadership of their tribe, a chance encounter with a British military officer is about to change his life forever.
British-Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar’s debut feature film, “Theeb,” places Theeb’s story squarely in “Lawrence of Arabia” country but without a glimpse of T.E. Lawrence. Instead, it’s a visually stunning telling of a chance encounter with another world through the eyes of a young Bedouin boy.
Recently orphaned, Theeb hovers between child and adolescent. Precociously curious, Theeb watches everyone closely, including his beloved older brother, Hussein, eager to learn what becoming a Bedouin tribal leader means.
One thing Theeb learns quickly is the idea of desert hospitality and honor. When a stranger, Marji, steps out of the dark, accompanied by an even greater unknown, an Englishman, Edward, Theeb is cautiously fascinated. Neither he nor his brothers are aware of the war ranging beyond their camp, and the presence of the Englishman is merely an oddity to be remarked on.
When Marji asks for Hussein to take them through to their tribe’s next well, Theeb is forbidden to go. Unable to contain himself, Theeb follows the group far into the desert and ends up accompanying them on their mysterious journey as they move through the thrilling yet daunting landscape.
Trouble starts soon after. Edward is a harsh, trying guest. Unaware or uncaring of Theeb’s status, he treats him like an annoying, potentially thieving puppy. When asked to sing, to make the night pass faster, the Englishman disdainfully declines.
Nonetheless, faithful to Bedouin principles, Hussein leads them to the well, only to discover it is poisoned by a dead body, a calling card left by brigands who haunt Wadi Rum, preying upon pilgrims to Mecca and travelers following the old routes to Mecca and Medina.
When the Bedouin wants to go back to safer territory, the British officer nearly has a fit. Marji won’t abandon the boys and the Englishman couldn’t care less about what might happen to them as long as he can deliver a mystifying box he jealously guards.
Theeb gets more adventure than he bargained for as the brigands attack, leaving first Marji and the Englishman, and then his brother, dead on the desert floor.
To get out of the desert alive, Theeb makes an uneasy pact with a wounded brigand, Hassan Mutlag, and together, they thread their way to an Ottoman train station. Theeb suspects Hassan has killed his brother and Hassan needs to make it out of Wadi Rum with as little blood on his hands as possible.
As they move through the desert, Theeb begins to see what the future might have in store for him and his tribe.
Hassan is both the past and possibly the future of Theeb’s tribe. A guide for Muslim pilgrims, Hassan had a thriving business until the “iron donkey,” the Bedouin name for the Ottoman railroad, cut through the ancient trails and cut down the time to travel to Mecca and Medina.
“I am the last of the guides,” Hassan tells a group of Arab rebels. To Theeb, he says, “we had no opportunity, nothing. It (the railroad) destroyed us.”
When Theeb is finally delivered to the railroad station, he sees how Hassan is trying to implicate him in his schemes, bringing dishonor on them both and has to decide if he will live up to the name his father gave him.
Shot on location primarily in Wadi Rum in the south of Jordan, “Theeb” is a gorgeous, slow burn, with much of it lensed from Theeb’s vantage point. Wolfgang Thaler’s photography, shot in 16mm with anamorphic lenses, is not so much reminiscent of David Lean’s epic as it is of Georges De La Tour’s paintings. The night scenes are velvety with small washes of light, leaving space for the play of emotions, while people and the commanding topography are given equal attention. It’s a steady, intimate look at a gorgeous landscape that brooks no fools and yet provides a stunning beauty.
In interviews, Abu Nowar has described “Theeb” as a sort of "Middle Eastern Western," and in a sense he’s right. It is young men against forces beyond their control — characters who must prove their mettle in the face of great odds.
But it is also something more. It lifts the Bedouin from mere colonial place markers to active agency, a welcome change.
The film is not so much a corrective of “Lawrence of Arabia,” as a parallel to it, a counter-narrative to events both historic and current, a subversive argument against hegemonic nationalism and the stultifying confines of the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.
Following the lead of the Italian neo-realists and Brazil’s Hector Babenco, Abu Nowar spent months with Bedouin tribes in and around Wadi Rum, learning more about their customs and habits, giving the film a settled, informed feel, accompanied by the stunning sound design, based in part, on traditional Bedouin melodies.
Instead of seasoned actors, Abu Nowar chose to cast local Bedouin and the results are electric. Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat plays Theeb, and his cousin, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, plays his older brother, Hussein. The warmth between them infuses the screen and Al-Hwietat’s portrayal as the younger boy commands every scene he is in. As for Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh as the Bedouin turned brigand, his gruff menace and deep sense of loss of a hereditary traditional life make the ending even more shocking.
Although more languid than the average Western viewer might be used to, “Theeb” is one of the most beautiful and quietly engaging films to come out of the Middle East this year. Its subtle commentary on how shifts in culture and colonial ambition effect traditional societies is especially timely as the conflicts following the 21st century version of the Arab Revolt, the Arab Spring, rage on.
"Theeb” is Jordan’s entry for Best Foreign Film for this year's Oscars. Already awarded major film prizes in festivals from Venice to Dubai, “Theeb” is both a promising debut for Abu Nowar and a harbinger for things to come for a new wave of Arab filmmaking.
"Theeb" is in an exclusive run at the Ken Cinema through Thursday. Please see Ken Cinema for times and ticket information.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
Goes well with:
“Man of Ashes” (Algeria, 1986)
“Silences of the Palace” (Tunisia, 1994)
“West Beirut” (Lebanon, 1998)
