Theeb Is a Must-See!
Theeb was released in 2014 as a drama/thriller movie and was directed by Naji Abu Nowar. Naji Abu won an award for being the best director at 71st Venice International Film Festival in 2014. The movie is spoken in Arabic but contains English subtitles. The film was mostly filmed in Wadi Rum and was based on the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman
Empire. The movie is based around five characters, the main character being a young boy named Theeb (meaning wolf in English). The actors in the film are non-professional but perform the part very well. The movie begins by Theeb, and his brother, Hussein guiding an Englishman and
a man from the Arab revolt to the Ottoman built train tracks, which they call the Iron Donkey Trail.
Hassein and Theeb are from a family of pilgrim guides, going about life in the traditional Arab way. During their journey, raiders of the deserts attacked Theeb and his group many times. The raiders killed Hassein, the others, and took the camels leaving Theeb completely alone. Theeb waited alone in the same place till one day someone showed up who was ill. This man was one of the raiders that killed Hassein and was the reason Theeb was alone. However, instead of leaving the man to die, Theeb decided to help him and hopefully get back home. In the end,
Theeb is alone again riding into the sunset alone again. Their journey will make you sit on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. The movie displays one of the top goals of the Arab Revolt being to seize the Hejaz railway because it was taking jobs away from the
people. The reason is people didn’t need guides anymore to show them the trail. Traditional traveling routes were being abandoned, and the Iron donkey trail (The train) as the guides like Hassein called it were much safer. the Arab revolt, British soldiers were deployed to help the
Arabs succeed in their goals and battle the Ottoman empire, as demonstrated in the movie. The film also does a great job of showing Arab culture, such as the aspects of loyalty, hospitality, and
their ideas of eating meals. The film demonstrates loyalty by Hassein, never leaving his brother nor the group even though they could possibly die and had the opportunity to go back home. At the end of the film, Theeb kills the raider as he was helping the Ottoman empire showing loyalty to his people. Hospitality is shown when the Englishman and his Arab partner show up at Theeb’s house. Theeb and his family treated them as one of their own by taking them in and by allowing them to participate in eating food and playing games. Food is important to the Arab community, and when food is present, they will make sure you eat. The man (One of the raiders) demonstrated this idea while he was eating bread. Theeb helps the man to get water, and the man gives Theeb bread making sure he would eat with him, not letting him starve. The movie
displays beautiful shots of Jordan and a great storyline, never making for a dull moment. Make Theeb your next watched movie.
