Black Gold (2011 Qatari film)

Last updated

Black Gold
BlackGoldPoster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Screenplay byJean-Jacques Annaud
Menno Meyjes
Alain Godard
Based onSouth of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia
by Hans Ruesch
Produced by Tarak Ben Ammar
Starring Tahar Rahim
Mark Strong
Antonio Banderas
Freida Pinto
Riz Ahmed
Corey Johnson
Liya Kebede
CinematographyJean-Marie Dreujou
Edited by Hervé Schneid
Music by James Horner
Production
companies
Quinta Communications
Prima TV
Carthago Films
France 2 Cinéma
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures (France, United Kingdom and Argentina)
Eagle Pictures (Italy) [1]
Release dates
  • 25 October 2011 (2011-10-25)(DTFF)
  • 23 November 2011 (2011-11-23)(France)
Running time
130 minutes
CountriesTunisia
France
Italy
Qatar
LanguageEnglish
Budget€38.5–40 million [2] [3]
Box office$5.5 million [1]

Black Gold (also known as Day of the Falcon and Or noir) is a 2011 epic historical war film, based on Hans Ruesch's 1957 novel South of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia (also known as The Great Thirst and The Arab). It was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, [4] produced by Tarak Ben Ammar and co-produced by Doha Film Institute. The film stars Tahar Rahim, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Mark Strong and Riz Ahmed. [5]

Contents

The film received negative reviews and grossed $5.5 million on a budget of €40 million, making it a box-office bomb.

Plot

In the early 20th century, Emir Nesib (Antonio Banderas) and Sultan Amar (Mark Strong) end their border war over "The Yellow Belt." Nesib wins, taking Amar's sons as hostages. Ten years later, Thurkettle, an American geologist, discovers oil in the Yellow Belt, violating the peace pact. Nesib modernizes his kingdom but faces opposition from tribes. Saleh, Amar's son, tries to convince Amar to allow oil extraction but is killed.

Desperate to maintain oil revenues, Nesib marries Auda to his daughter Leyla (Freida Pinto), dissolving the pact with Amar. Auda, sent to persuade Amar, discovers Amar's resistance to exploiting the Yellow Belt. Amar plans to attack Nesib's city, Hobeika, using prisoners as decoys. Auda leads the decoy army, but Nesib's forces overpower them. Auda's plan to lead prisoners to the sea fails, leading them to face a slaver tribe. Auda defeats the tribe, earning the loyalty of other tribes.

Auda is mistakenly shot but revives during funeral rites. Tribals believe he is a prophesied leader. Auda, vowing to "overturn the chessboard," unites tribes against Nesib. Amar agrees to Auda's terms but is killed by the Beni Sirri sheikh. Auda's army, angered, attacks Hobeika, overwhelming Nesib's forces. Auda becomes ruler of both kingdoms through his marriage to Leyla.

In the aftermath, Amar is found alive in dungeons, and Nesib abdicates in favor of Leyla. Auda confronts Nesib, sparing him and sending him to Houston to protect their interests. The film concludes with Auda, now ruler, choosing his people over foreign interests and spending time with his pregnant wife.

Cast

Reception

Black Gold was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 11% based on 27 reviews, with an average score of 4 out of 10. [6] While there was praise for its ambitious scope, production values and action, the film was criticized for being tedious and slow; Strong and Banderas received significant criticism for their performances as Arabic characters. "Touted as the Arab breakthrough into the international cinema arena, Black Gold pits Mark Strong and Antonio Banderas against each other as warring emirs torn between the traditional ways and modern temptations. But despite its honourable intentions, Black Gold hits the ground with a terrible clunking thud, its broken-English dialogue squeezing the life out of it practically from the off," The Guardian's Andrew Pulver wrote in his analysis. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Banderas</span> Spanish actor (born 1960)

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera, better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and filmmaker. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Goya Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.

<i>El Mariachi</i> 1992 film

El Mariachi is a 1992 Spanish language American independent neo-Western action film and the first part of the saga that came to be known as Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy. It marked the feature-length debut of Rodriguez as writer and director. The Spanish language film was shot with a mainly amateur cast in the northern Mexican border town of Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico across from Del Rio, Texas, the home town of leading actor Carlos Gallardo as the title character. The US$7,225 production was originally intended for the Mexican home-video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film and bought the American distribution rights. Columbia eventually spent $200,000 to transfer the print to film, to remix the sound, and on other post-production work, then spent millions more on marketing and distribution.

<i>Femme Fatale</i> (2002 film) 2002 mystery film by Brian De Palma

Femme Fatale is a 2002 erotic thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>The Body</i> (2001 film) 2001 film directed by Jonas McCord

The Body is a 2001 mystery thriller drama film written and directed by Jonas McCord. Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Richard Sapir, it stars Antonio Banderas, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Lillian Lux, John Wood, and Derek Jacobi. It is a joint American-Israeli-German co-production, shot on-location in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Italy.

<i>Black and White in Color</i> 1976 French film

Black and White in Color is a French-Ivorian 1976 war film and black comedy directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud in his directorial debut. The film is set in the African theater of World War I, during the French invasion of the German colony of Kamerun. The film adopts a strong antimilitaristic point of view, and is noteworthy for ridiculing the French side even more harshly than their German counterparts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Palmer (film executive)</span> Australian film executive

Amanda Palmer is an Australian-English media and film executive and international journalist, whose 18-year-career in film and media entertainment, content creation and entertainment platforms has spanned Australia, Britain, United States and the Middle East.

<i>Quest for Fire</i> (film) 1981 adventure film by Jean-Jacques Annaud

Quest for Fire is a 1981 prehistoric fantasy adventure film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, written by Gérard Brach and starring Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nameer El-Kadi and Rae Dawn Chong. The Canadian-French co-production is a film adaptation of the 1911 Belgian novel The Quest for Fire by J.-H. Rosny. The story is set "80,000 years ago", with a plot concerning the struggle for control of fire by early humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freida Pinto</span> Indian actress (born 1984)

Freida Selena Pinto is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai she took part in amateur plays. After graduation, she briefly worked as a model and then as a television presenter.

<i>You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger</i> 2010 film by Woody Allen

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, and Naomi Watts. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2010, in an out-of-competition slot.

<i>Trishna</i> (2011 film) 2011 British film

Trishna is a 2011 drama film, written and directed by Michael Winterbottom, and starring Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed. A British-Swedish-Indian co-production, it is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It is Winterbottom's third Hardy adaptation, after Jude and The Claim. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2011, and after some further festival appearances it saw its first cinema release in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 9 March 2012.

Jan Uddin is a British actor of Bangladeshi descent, now living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his lead roles in independent film Cliffs of Freedom (2019) and British thriller Lies We Tell (2017). Jan is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to star on Marvel Cinematic Universe and Netflix Original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">69th Golden Globe Awards</span> Awards for best in film and television in 2011

The 69th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2011, were broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 15, 2012, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais, for the third consecutive year. The musical theme for the year was composed by Yoshiki, leader of the Japanese band X Japan. The nominations were announced by Woody Harrelson, Sofía Vergara, Gerard Butler and Rashida Jones on December 15, 2011. Multiple winners for the night included the silent film The Artist which won three awards and The Descendants winning two awards. Freshman television series Homeland also won two awards.

<i>Knight of Cups</i> (film) 2015 film by Terrence Malick

Knight of Cups is a 2015 American experimental drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and produced by Nicolas Gonda, Sarah Green and Ken Kao. The film features an ensemble cast, starring Christian Bale as the central character.

<i>Autómata</i> 2014 science fiction film

Autómata is a 2014 English-language Spanish-Bulgarian science fiction action film directed by Gabe Ibáñez starring Antonio Banderas. The film is co-written by Ibáñez with Igor Legarreta and Javier Sánchez Donate, and co-stars Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Melanie Griffith, Dylan McDermott, Robert Forster, and Tim McInnerny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Beni Abbas</span> 1510–1872, Kabyle Berber state in North Africa

The Kingdom of the Ait Abbas or Sultanate of the Beni Abbas was a Kabyle, Berber state of North Africa, then a fief and a principality, controlling Lesser Kabylie and its surroundings from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. It is referred to in the Spanish historiography as "reino de Labes"; sometimes more commonly referred to by its ruling family, the Mokrani, in Berber At Muqran. Its capital was the Kalâa of Ait Abbas, an impregnable citadel in the Biban mountain range.

<i>Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle</i> 2018 film directed by Andy Serkis

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a 2018 adventure drama film directed by Andy Serkis with a screenplay by Callie Kloves, based on stories collected in All the Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys, and Freida Pinto, along with voice and motion-capture performances from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, and Serkis. In the film, an orphaned human boy who was raised by wolves, sets out on a journey to find a human village while evading Shere Khan.

<i>City of Tiny Lights</i> 2016 British crime thriller film

City of Tiny Lights is a 2016 British crime thriller film directed by Pete Travis and written by Patrick Neate, based on his own 2005 novel of the same name. It stars Riz Ahmed, Cush Jumbo, James Floyd, Billie Piper and Roshan Seth. Set in London, it tells the story of a private detective who investigates the disappearance of a Russian prostitute. The film had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2016. It was released in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2017.

<i>Hillbilly Elegy</i> (film) 2020 film directed by Ron Howard

Hillbilly Elegy is a 2020 American drama film directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Vanessa Taylor, It is based on the 2016 memoir of the same name, by J. D. Vance. The film stars Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Haley Bennett, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins, and Owen Asztalos.

<i>She Came to Me</i> 2023 film by Rebecca Miller

She Came to Me is a 2023 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. It stars Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig, Brian d'Arcy James, and Anne Hathaway.

References

  1. 1 2 "Black Gold (2011) (2011)". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  2. Belpêche, Stéphanie (23 March 2011). "Annaud au pays de l'"Or noir"". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French).
  3. "France : "Intouchables", film le plus rentable de l'histoire". Le Point (in French). 17 February 2012.
  4. Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 117. ISBN   978-1908215017.
  5. 1 2 "Black Gold – review". The Guardian . 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022.
  6. Rotten Tomatoes score