Post by Herb on Jul 28, 2008 10:07:16 GMT -5
I watched "The Kingdom" starring Jamie Fox, last weekend, and found it pretty good. If you haven't seen it, it's about an FBI team that travels to Saudi Arabia, to investigate a terrorist bombing of a US compound, there.
For Hollywood, they actually did a pretty good job and got more things right then wrong. They primarily filmed in Dubai, which adds a lot of credibility to the film, but filming a movie in Dubai about Saudi Arabia, is like making a movie about a conservative US city in the Bible Belt in Las Vegas! It's a more accurate picture then we'll probably ever otherwise see, but it's still distorted.
Some other problems:
The American Compound where the terrorist attack occurred, was apparently filmed in Arizona, in reality the US compounds in Saudi Arabia are extremely lush/resort-like. That's the attraction to working there, an extra good salary, and being able to live in a "rich" lifestyle while on the compound. Saudi Arabia has huge desalination plants in the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf to them) and water is piped from the Gulf to Riyadh. There is no water conservation. The compounds are beautifully landscaped and maintained by foreign labors (mainly Pakistanis and Filipinos, when I was there).
The "prince" supervising the investigation is far too young to actually be in charge. In reality, the Princes who direct cabinet positions and major department are all at least 50 years old and more likely in their 70s. Most are sons of the original King, Abdul Azziz, who died in the late 1940s.
The US Army Headquarters in Riyadh, that was bombed by Al Queda in 1995, is not the bombed out building showed in the movie's opening.
Traffic, in Saudi Arabia, especially Riyadh is beyond description. On expressways, speed is 20 mph faster then what is safe, with only about ten feet between bumpers. Lanes mean nothing. At a stoplight, somebody wanting to make a left turn from the right lane will do so and vice versa.
Local dress: The black Abaya with a head scarf and veil is what is almost universally worn in the Arab peninsula by women as the movie shows, not the Afghan Burqa which has somehow become the popular stereotype in America. The Saudi men almost universally wear the red and white checked headscarf (I forget the proper name) with a doubled black rope around the head (this rope at one time was actually camel hobbles). The uniformed police and SANG (Saudi Arabian National Guard) wear this headdress when in dress uniform with a brass badge mounted on the ropes centered on the forehead, denoting their govt service. In the summer some men will wear a cooler white headdress minus the ropes. While other Arabs inside Saudi may wear the other headgear shown in the movie, it would be very rare for a Saudi to not wear either the red or white one. The camel hobbles, though are often not worn.
SANG is not a National Guard in the US sense, but one of Saudi Arabia's two active duty armies (although SANG does have a reserve component). SANG is descended from the old White Army that originally put the Royal Family in power, as such they are looked at as the true protectors of the Kingdom.
The script was obviously written with some insider knowledge of life inside the Kingdom. Besides being a good movie, imo, it's almost worthwhile for a fairly accurate snapshot of the Kingdom.
For Hollywood, they actually did a pretty good job and got more things right then wrong. They primarily filmed in Dubai, which adds a lot of credibility to the film, but filming a movie in Dubai about Saudi Arabia, is like making a movie about a conservative US city in the Bible Belt in Las Vegas! It's a more accurate picture then we'll probably ever otherwise see, but it's still distorted.
Some other problems:
The American Compound where the terrorist attack occurred, was apparently filmed in Arizona, in reality the US compounds in Saudi Arabia are extremely lush/resort-like. That's the attraction to working there, an extra good salary, and being able to live in a "rich" lifestyle while on the compound. Saudi Arabia has huge desalination plants in the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf to them) and water is piped from the Gulf to Riyadh. There is no water conservation. The compounds are beautifully landscaped and maintained by foreign labors (mainly Pakistanis and Filipinos, when I was there).
The "prince" supervising the investigation is far too young to actually be in charge. In reality, the Princes who direct cabinet positions and major department are all at least 50 years old and more likely in their 70s. Most are sons of the original King, Abdul Azziz, who died in the late 1940s.
The US Army Headquarters in Riyadh, that was bombed by Al Queda in 1995, is not the bombed out building showed in the movie's opening.
Traffic, in Saudi Arabia, especially Riyadh is beyond description. On expressways, speed is 20 mph faster then what is safe, with only about ten feet between bumpers. Lanes mean nothing. At a stoplight, somebody wanting to make a left turn from the right lane will do so and vice versa.
Local dress: The black Abaya with a head scarf and veil is what is almost universally worn in the Arab peninsula by women as the movie shows, not the Afghan Burqa which has somehow become the popular stereotype in America. The Saudi men almost universally wear the red and white checked headscarf (I forget the proper name) with a doubled black rope around the head (this rope at one time was actually camel hobbles). The uniformed police and SANG (Saudi Arabian National Guard) wear this headdress when in dress uniform with a brass badge mounted on the ropes centered on the forehead, denoting their govt service. In the summer some men will wear a cooler white headdress minus the ropes. While other Arabs inside Saudi may wear the other headgear shown in the movie, it would be very rare for a Saudi to not wear either the red or white one. The camel hobbles, though are often not worn.
SANG is not a National Guard in the US sense, but one of Saudi Arabia's two active duty armies (although SANG does have a reserve component). SANG is descended from the old White Army that originally put the Royal Family in power, as such they are looked at as the true protectors of the Kingdom.
The script was obviously written with some insider knowledge of life inside the Kingdom. Besides being a good movie, imo, it's almost worthwhile for a fairly accurate snapshot of the Kingdom.
