Theeb is set in the Hejaz (now part of Saudi Arabia) on the eve of the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1916 — but you don’t need to be clued up on its historical backdrop, because its protagonist isn’t. Jacir Eid plays the titular adolescent (the name meaning “wolf”), the youngest son of a now-dead Bedouin leader. When his older brother Hussein (Hussein Al-Sweilhiyeen) is called upon to help guide a suspiciously tense British soldier (Jack Fox) to a well, Theeb disobeys an order to stay put and follows them into the unforgiving desert. Then, tragedy strikes in the middle of nowhere, throwing him into an uneasy alliance with an enemy, without whom he won’t survive the treacherous journey home.
Era-ending political machinations are unfolding all around him, but Theeb lends the film his childlike perspective so that it plays out more like the coming-of-age story of a young cub than a Lawrence of Arabia-style epic. Even as it boldly subverts that classic, though, Theeb’s cinematography mirrors the haunting, hostile beauty of David Lean’s film — making the desert feel as much a character as the boy. Deftly balancing a sense of earth-shattering personal stakes with one of looming historical portent, Theeb earned a well-deserved nomination at the 2016 Oscars.
"The themes that Theeb explores are the clashes between modernity and decay, brotherhood and legacy, innocence and survival. There is little exposition about the colonial struggle, not that it is needed."
— Bekzhan Sarsenbay
Set in the Arabian Desert of 1916, the film follows Theeb, a young Bedouin boy, and his brother Hussein as they leave the safety of their tribe to venture on a treacherous journey at the dawn of the Great Revolt. If Theeb is to survive he must quickly learn about adulthood, trust and betrayal.
A young Bedouin boy accidentally gets caught up in imperial politics when he helps guide a British soldier through the treacherous desert.
It’s impossible to tell, but Theeb’s cast — aside from Jack Fox — were all non-professional actors before production began (what’s more, some of them hadn’t even seen a movie before). Given the film’s embedded approach to its story, young Jacir Eid holds much of Theeb on his shoulders, but he makes all this responsibility look effortless, putting in a performance that modulates childlike innocence with the embittered gaze of someone learning how the world works for the first time. What a find.
The antithesis to Lawrence of Arabia in many ways — not least because it runs under two hours, not four.
Oscars
1 nomination
Venice
1 win
BAFTA
1 win, 1 nomination
"Free of sentimentality, Theeb is a beautiful tribute to a way of life that has nearly come to an end, set during the crucial period when it began to disappear."
— Violet Lucca