A Libyan historical epic; A story about Mussolini's Italian colonisation of Libya and the 6th Governor who leads the offensive against the native resistance. The resistance is led by Omar al-Mukhtar Muhammad bin Farhat al-Manifi, a teacher of the Qur'an by profession; he was also skilled in the strategies and tactics of desert warfare, known locally by the Italians as 'Matari of the Mnifa' and here known as Lion of the Desert, the leader of native resistance in Eastern Libya under the Senussids. He is considered the national hero of Libya and a symbol of resistance in the Berber, Arab, and Islamic worlds. Like the film Battle of the Algiers, which detailed French colonisation, it was banned. Lions of the Desert was banned for seven years in Italy. We don't fully get to grips with the real people of this story; they are a bit thinly drawn, and the narrative dynamic is a well-worn David vs. Goliath turn that continues to be made in equivalent films such as Braveheart. Nevertheless, the story about the war strategy and tactics played out is interesting. The battle sequences are right in number, but editing is not tight enough, so it begins to drag in the middle, and for a biopic, we needed more backstory for the marvellous Anthony Quinn to get his teeth into. Nonetheless, the locations are magnificently pictured, all filmed in Libya, and all the performances are good, even if the acting is a little hammy in places; we can almost look past the English character actors as part of the Lion's faithful crew.
Review of Lion of the Desert
