Theeb (2014)

There's a moment in Theeb where the camera pulls back across a vast Jordanian desert at golden hour, and everything just stops you dead. The sand glows amber, the shadows stretch long, and you think: yes, this is exactly what cinema is for. The problem is that a great-looking film and a great film aren't always the same thing, and Theeb spends a fair chunk of its running time reminding you of that difference.

We're in the Hejaz during World War I. Theeb is a young Bedouin boy, played with quiet, watchful intensity by Jacir Eid, and the story kicks off when he follows his older brother and a mysterious English officer into the desert on a journey that's clearly going to go sideways. The setup is genuinely compelling: a coming-of-age story wrapped around historical intrigue, with the threat of violence simmering under every sun-baked scene. When bandits enter the picture early on and the tension ratchets up, the film feels properly alive. Camels plodding across golden dunes, shadows that could be hiding anything, a boy caught between curiosity and danger. I was in.

Then it slows. Hard. The middle act is where Theeb loses me, dragging through scene after scene with a patience that tips from meditative into punishing. There's a TNT detonator that announces its narrative purpose so loudly within the first ten minutes that it practically winks at you from the screen, and watching the film treat it as a slow reveal tests your goodwill. When a film's pacing starts feeling less like deliberate restraint and more like a test of endurance, something's gone wrong in the edit. The gorgeous cinematography keeps you company, but scenery alone can't carry the weight of a sluggish middle act.

What saves it is the ending. Without giving anything away, the finale is lean, visceral and genuinely affecting. Theeb's transformation across the film pays off in a way that feels earned through grit and instinct rather than sentiment. The final scenes carry a quiet, bruising power, and they land. They just can't fully redeem the stretch you had to wade through to get there.

It's worth noting that Theeb made history as Jordan's first-ever Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and on the strength of its visuals alone, you can absolutely see why it caught the attention of awards bodies. The craft on display is undeniable. But craft and storytelling have to work together, and here they're pulling in different directions. The film is more beautiful than it is compelling, and that's a real shame, because the bones of something genuinely gripping are clearly there. Jacir Eid's performance in particular deserved a tighter, more focused film around him.

I've been working through my A-Z World Movie Tour, picking a film from each country, and Jordan was always going to be a fascinating stop. If the Middle East as a filmmaking region interests you, I'd also point you towards The Salesman (2016), which I reviewed and found to be a far more consistently gripping watch, even if the settings and styles are worlds apart. And if sweeping, sun-scorched landscapes driving a survival story is your thing, honestly Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) scratches a similar itch with considerably more propulsion.

Three stars. Worth your time for the images alone, and the finale genuinely earns its keep. But be prepared to meet it halfway through that difficult middle, because it won't come to you.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 2014  | Watched: 2025-07-03

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