Seeking freedom and solitude is the driving force that attracted Gertrude Bell, a learned English woman from a well to do family who became largely responsible for divving up the Middle East. Bell could easily be made as the first proto-feminist of her kind way before Dora the Explorer. Oddly enough, despite it being a Werner Herzog film, Queen of the Desert is a weepy melodrama most of the time, dangerously treading Douglas Sirk territory. Surely, there are some stunning vistas of the desert and camels and ancient citadels made of mud and underground rivers and salt crusted earth and all that too in true Herzogian fashion. Not enough though. It plays out more like Love Affairs of Gertrude Bell, starring Nicole Kidman. Queen of the Desert is a perfectly respectable, largely entertaining film. James Franco's I'm a puppy about to die performance didn't bother me too much. I'm just disappointed that it is a very un-Herzogian film.
#wernerherzog #nicolekidman #queenofthedesert #film
Raurquiz
Filmizleilk
Dustin Kiyeon Chang
