Queen of the Desert

Written and directed by Werner Herzog, Queen of the Desert is about the life of Gertrude Bell from her 20s to the final years of her life as she becomes a famed traveler, writer, archeologist, cartographer, and political officer. The film is a dramatic account of her life as she would also meet various figures who would be important to modern history as she is played by Nicole Kidman. Also starring James Franco, Damian Lewis, Jay Abdo, and Robert Pattinson. Queen of the Desert is a visually-entrancing yet underwritten film from Werner Herzog.

The film chronicles the life of Gertrud Bell from 1903 to 1916 though it begins in 1915 where various individuals are in the Middle East trying to figure out what to do with T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson) suggesting Gertrud Bell to help negotiate matters. It’s a film that play into Bell’s desire to see the world where she would inhabit various roles in her life but also endure tragedy and adventures. Werner Herzog’s screenplay doesn’t do much to create a substantial narrative that play into Bell’s evolution from a lady of privilege into the famed traveler who would also be a writer, a cartographer, archeologist, and political officer who would befriend tribes and help bring brief peace to feuding tribes. It also play into her romantic dalliances with embassy employee Henry Cadogan (James Franco) and later on the military officer Lt. Col. Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis). The romantic elements of the script never really fits in with the main story that revolves around Bell’s evolution into this woman who would travel throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. Even as she would encounter different parts of the world and meet these unique individuals who live from the outside of conventional society.

Herzog’s direction is definitely entrancing for not just shooting on the Sahara desert but also to create a world that is vast and with a sense of the unknown. While much of the film is shot on location in Merzouga, Morocco along with shots in Marrakesh, Erfourd, and Ouarzazate in Morocco plus parts of London and establishing shots in Merzouga and Petra, Jordan. Herzog would capture the beauty of the deserts and locations through some intricate wide shots that gathers so much coverage as well as establish this depth of field that play into the vastness of the locations. Still, Herzog is focused on Bell’s travels and the things she encounter as he would create some nice intimate moments in the close-ups and medium shots upon her meeting with sheiks as she would understand them and they would be gracious in return. It’s among the moments that do make it interesting as well as scenes where Bell meets Lawrence and their views about the world itself.

While there are also some humorous moments in the film, the film unfortunately suffers from its shortcomings in the script where it would affect its pacing as it would plod from time to time including the romantic moments in the film. It’s where the film definitely loses interest as it also makes Bell seem like a homewrecker when it’s not exactly true considering that it was the men that were pursuing her. Herzog’s direction for those scenes do have some interesting compositions but it’s the script that doesn’t really flesh out the emotional aspect of those scenes. Overall, Herzog crafts a messy though fascinating film about the life and work of Gertrude Bell.

Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger does excellent work with the film’s cinematography in emphasizing the natural lighting and look for many of the scenes set in the desert while emphasizing on a bluish look for the winter scenes in Britain. Editor Joe Bini does nice work with the editing as it has a few jump-cuts and some rhythmic cuts to play into some of the suspense and drama despite its shortcomings in the script. Production designer Ulrich Bergfelder, with art directors Rabiaa N’Gadi and Caroline Steiner, does brilliant work with the look of the homes that Bell would stay in as well as some of the old villages and such where the sheiks lived in. Costume designer Michele Clapton does fantastic work with the costumes from the lavish dresses that Bell and the women would wear at embassy galas and such to the more rugged look she would wear upon her travels through the desert.

Hair/makeup designer Alessandro Bertolazzi does terrific work with the look of the women hairstyles of the time as well as the messiness of Bell’s hair in the desert. Visual effects supervisors Kaspar Kallas and Olaf Przybyszewski do some fine work with some of the film’s visual effects as it largely minor work in bits of set-dressing. Sound designer Laurent Kossayan does superb work with the sound as it play into the atmosphere of the locations including the sounds of guns and cannons throughout the film. The film’s music by Klaus Badelt and Mark Yaeger is amazing for its somber orchestral score driven mainly by strings as it play into the mystique of the Sahara and its desolate locations as well as the world that Bell would encounter.

The casting by Salah Benchegra, Beth Charkham, and Shannon Makhanian is wonderful as it feature some notable small roles from Mark Lewis John as Bell’s uncle Frank Lascelles, Beth Goddard as Bell’s aunt, Holly Earl as her cousin Florence who has feelings for Cadogan, Assaad Bouab as a sheikh who invites Bell to his home as they share a love of poetry and literature, Sophie Linfield as Doughty-Wylie’s wife Judith, Younes Bouab as a young King Faisal I of Iraq, Christopher Fulford as a young Winston Churchill, David Calder as Bell’s father Hugh who disapproves her relationship with Cadogan, and Jenny Agutter as Bell’s mother Florence who is concerned about her daughter’s desire for adventure as she is reluctant to let her daughter seek it out. Jay Abdo is fantastic as Fattouh as a guide who would accompany Bell on her many journeys as well as be her most loyal companion who would help her trek through the land and be someone that Bell would really care for. Robert Pattinson is excellent as T.E. Lawrence as the famed archeologist, army officer, writer, and diplomat whom Bell would meet as he doesn’t care for any romantic interest in Bell but rather as a colleague and equal whom he shares his views on the world with.

Damian Lewis is terrific as Lt. Col. Charles Doughty-Wylie as a military official who becomes Bell’s second major love interest as someone who is fascinated by her views of the world where Lewis has his moments but he and Kidman don’t really radiate any kind of chemistry due in part to the script. James Franco’s performance as Henry Cadogan as this embassy employee isn’t very good due in part to the script’s shortcomings as well as the fact that Franco doesn’t do a good English accent as he and Kidman also don’t have any chemistry where it feels forced. Finally, there’s Nicole Kidman in an incredible performance as Gertrude Bell as the woman who do all sorts of things as she seeks adventure and challenges where Kidman displays a radiance to her character as well as some restraint in her facial reactions. Despite some of the drawbacks of the romantic aspects on Bell’s life, Kidman does display that anguish of a woman who had dealt with so much as she is also trying to move forward with her desire to explore the world.

Queen of the Desert is a stellar yet underwhelming film from Werner Herzog that features a great performance from Nicole Kidman. Along with its dazzling visuals, somber music score, and strong supporting performances from Jay Abdo and Robert Pattinson. It’s a film that does play into Bell’s life as an explorer though it fumbles into its exploration into aspects of her personal and romantic life which isn’t as interesting as what she does when she’s traveling. In the end, Queen of the Desert is a good but messy film from Werner Herzog.

Werner Herzog Films: Feature Films: (Signs of Life) - (Even the Dwarfs Started Small) - (Fatana Morgana) – Aguirre, the Wrath of God - (The Enigma of Kasper Hauer) - (Heart of Glass) – Stroszek - Nosferatu, the Vampyre - Woyzeck - Fitzcarraldo - (Where the Green Ants Dream) – Cobra Verde - (Scream of Stone) - (Lessons of Darkness) - (Invincible (2001 film)) - (The Wild Blue Yonder) – Rescue Dawn - (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) – (My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?) – (Salt and Fire) – (Family Romance, LLC)

Documentaries: (The Flying Doctors of East Africa) - (Handicapped Future) - (Land of Silence and Darkness) - (The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner) - (How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck) - (La Soufrière) - (Huie's Sermon) - (God's Angry Man) - (Ballad of the Little Soldier) - (The Dark Glow of the Mountains) - (Wodaabe) – Herdsmen of the Sun) - (Echoes from a Somber Empire) - (Jag Mandir) - (Bells from the Deep) - (The Transformation of the World into Music) - (Death for Five Voices) - (Little Dieter Needs to Fly) – My Best Fiend - (Wings of Hope) - (Pilgrimage) - (Ten Thousand Years Older) - (Wheel of Time) - (The White Diamond) – Grizzly Man - Encounters at the End of the World - Cave of Forgotten Dreams - (Into the Abyss) – (On Death Row) – From One Second to the Next - (Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World) – (Into the Inferno) – (Meeting Gorbachev)

© thevoid99 2019

Walkabout

Based on the novel by James Vance Marshall, Walkabout is the story about a teenage girl and her younger brother who find themselves in the Australian Outback unsure of how they will survive only to meet a young Aboriginal boy who helps them. Directed by Nicolas Roeg and screenplay by Edward Bond, the film is an exploration into a world outside of the city and into the unforgiving world that is the Australian Outback. Starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, and David Gulpilil. Walkabout is a majestic film from Nicolas Roeg.

For the Aborigine, a walkabout is rite of passage they must once they reach past the age of adolescence by walking into the Australian desert for six months. In this film, it is about this Aborigine (David Gulpilil) who encounters a teenage girl (Jenny Agutter) and her younger brother (Luc Roeg) who are lost in the desert just after their father had gone insane and killed himself. For this young woman and her little brother, they have to endure a world that is completely outside of civilization only to get help from this Aborigine to trek through the Outback to return to civilization. Though the two Australians and Aborigine don’t understand each other, the journey they all take would be something that none of them would forget.

Edward Bond’s screenplay doesn’t feature much of a plot since it is about these two Australians who live in the city as they encounter a young Aborigine who helps them trek through the Outback. Yet, the script offers something much more where these two young Australians encounter a world that is out of their comfort zone as they have to deal with the harsh world of nature. With the help of this young Aborigine, they manage to survive the world of nature while discovering something that is very different from civilization. Still, there are elements of that civilized world that is prevalent as the one link the girl and her brother have is a radio.

Nicolas Roeg’s direction is very stylized in some of the presentation that he creates yet he keeps things simple and naturalistic in the way many of the scenes in the Outback are presented. A lot of it includes some very intense close-ups of the characters as well as striking shots of the locations in the wide shots to capture the beauty of the Outback. While there are elements in nature that is cruel, it is still nothing compared to the chaotic world of civilization. Still, Roeg isn’t interesting in fleshing out any kind of visual exposition on what world is better but rather showcase something that is different from what the civilized world have to endure. Even in moments of violence where this young Aborigine has to kill animals to survive where Roeg uses some grainy close-ups to capture this violence yet it is presented with more brutality when the Aborigine sees a couple of hunters do it with rifles as opposed to a spear.

With Roeg also serving as the film’s cinematographer, with some additional work from Tony Richmond, there is a naturalist look to many of the film’s Outback scenes as it is presented with an elegance that feels real. Since the film is also about a meeting of two different worlds, there is also an element of sexual discovery as it concerns the young girl and the Aborigine since there’s a scene of the girl swimming naked in a watering hole while the Aborigine later catches a glimpse of the girl dressing. They’re intrigued by each other but neither of them really know how to express one another. Even as they continue their journey with the little boy as there’s a lot around them that could take the girl and her brother back to civilization. Roeg’s direction also has this element of dreaminess in his montages to play out a world that seemed to have lost some innocence as it does add to a sense of melancholia towards its ending. Overall, Roeg creates a very exotic and hypnotic film about a journey into the world outside of civilization.

Editor Antony Gibbs and Alan Pattillo do amazing work with the editing by creating dazzling rhythmic cuts and stylish montages to play out the contrast between the civilized world and nature as well as some inspiring use of montages and freeze-frames to establish some key moments in the film. Production designer Brian Eatwell and art director Terry Gough do brilliant work with some of the film‘s minimal set pieces from the abandoned home the trio encounter to some of the villages nearby in their journey.

Location sound mixer Barry Brown does excellent work with the editing in creating some unique collages between the differing worlds of civilization and the natural world as well as scenes with the radio. The film’s music by John Barry is fantastic for its mixture of lush orchestral music to play out some of the film’s beauty as well as some intense moments for the drama as well as the use of didgeridoos to establish that harsh world that is nature. The film’s music also includes some pop music of the times including a song by Rod Stewart that is played on the radio.

The film’s cast includes some memorable small roles from John Meillon as the girl and boy’s father as well as Barry Donnelly, Noeline Brown, and Carlo Manchini as a group of scientists doing research in the Outback. The performances of David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, and Jenny Agutter are truly extraordinary for their naturalistic performances with Gulpilil as the more ambiguous of the three while Roeg is the more innocent of the three since he is a child. In Agutter, she displays a radiance to her character as a teenage girl in transition into becoming a woman while facing the reality that is brought upon her.

Walkabout is an outstanding film from Nicolas Roeg that features mesmerizing performances from Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, and David Gulpilil. The film is definitely one of the most entrancing features that displays a world in which two young people have to grow up to encounter the harsh world of nature while getting help from a young Aborigine who has no understanding of the civilized world. For audiences new to Nicolas Roeg, the film is definitely one of his most essential works in the way he captures the beauty that is the Outback. In the end, Walkabout is an incredible film from Nicolas Roeg.

Nicolas Roeg Films: Performance - (Glastonbury Fayre) - Don’t Look Now - The Man Who Fell to Earth - (Bad Timing) - (Eureka) - Insignificance - (Castaway (1986 film)) - (Aria-Un ballo in maschera) - (Track 29) - (The Witches) - (Heart of Darkness (1993 film)) - (Two Deaths) - (Full Body Massage) - (Samson and Delilah (1996 film)) - (Puffball)

© thevoid99 2013