The film tells the story of Gertrude Bell a sort of real life female Lawrence of Arabia who played a decisive role in the 1920s in defining the future political order of today’s Middle East. Bell was an historian, novelist and member of the British secret service who lived from 1868 to 1926.

In the film Bell is played by Nicole Kidman as a woman who is born into the Victorian age as a member of the upper middle class but who is nonetheless a very modern woman. Since her family cannot not find a suitable husband for her after she is “spoiled” by too much education in England, being one of the first women to attend Oxford, they ship her out to Tehran where she falls in love with diplomat Henry Cadogan played by James Franco. But before the two can marry tragedy strikes when Cadogan falls ill and dies under somewhat mysterious circumstances while Bell is back in England the tragedy defines her future life.

Three years later Bell returns to the Middle East and declares herself a “widow” whose heart belongs to the desert. She decides to explore the region and study its people despite opposition from British officialdom.

Against a dramatic backdrop of epic desert landscapes and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the forces it unleashes she learns the languages and customs and politics of the region and visits Cairo, Basra and Baghdad. Despite being a woman she earns the respect of regional leaders for her scholarship and courage.

Kidman is well cast as the adventurer Bell and she plays out a series of adventures against a spectacular backdrop of scenery lensed by Peter Zeitlinger. The film was shot on location in Morocco and Jordan.

The comparison with David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia cannot be avoided and Herzog wisely does not attempt to. The film opens with a scene set in 1914 Cairo where Winston Churchill played by Chirs Fulford is discussing how the British plan to carve-up the Ottoman Empire after World War I and T E Lawrence played by Robert Pattinson voices his opinion that no one is better qualified to advise the British on the region than Bell who has now been wandering the desert for nearly 10 years. Bell and Lawrence also meet up on an archeological dig during the film.

Strangely as the film tries to portray Bell as such an independent woman her life story is defined by Herzog as being shaped by two romantic love affairs; the love and loss of Cadogan who prompted Bell to become a “widow” of the desert and another romance towards the end.

Unfortunately in any comparison to Lean’s masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia Herzog’s Queen of the Desert comes off as a minor work. Peter O’Toole’s soaring portrayal of the complex character of Lawrence and the psychological demons that drove him are nowhere in evidence here in what comes off as a rather superficial interpretation of Bell who must have been a fascinating character to have done what she did in an age when men dominated all parts of society let alone working within the Arab world.

Director: Werner Herzog

Cast: Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis, Robert Pattinson

USA