I saw The Kingdom a few days ago. While watching the movie, I was semi-disturbed. Is the Saudi Intelligence service really that incompetent? I would think they'd have a rather good Saudi version of the FBI considering that they're in the Middle East. Maybe I'm wrong. I also found the movie to be another one of those white men to the rescue type movies. Of course, Jamie Foxx is black so perhaps I should say it was one of those Americans coming to the rescue type movies. As another example of a movie that had this sort of underlying theme, The Last Samurai, which I like to call White Men Dancing with Samurai -- my take on Dancing with the Wolves. Maybe my memory is a little vague, but I do believe that both The Kingdom and The Last Samurai had that moment where the American gets to meet the royal family and immediately has some influence on future decisions -- give me a break. I've come to the point where I don't really like movies where Americans come to the rescue, because I really don't believe that other cultures need to be rescued or educated. Of course, I also hate movies where Americans are humbled -- such as The Day After Tomorrow. I guess I just hate implied storylines that deal with Americans being seen as overly helpful or overly in need of a lesson.
Over-all, The Kingdom wasn't a bad movie. It had some intense moments. I just had this sneaky suspicion that it was a movie that was trying to make the Saudi intelligence service look incompetent just to make the FBI look competent.
Notes from Vivace
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