Queen Of The Desert (2015)

The story of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman), an English writer, traveler, political officer, administrator, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped and became highly influential to British imperial policy making due to her knowledge and contacts. As influential as her contemporary, T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson). Directed by Werner Herzog (FITZCARRALDO), if I had to sum up the film in as few words as possible, I'd say a beautiful bore about covers it. Visually, it's absolutely stunning and Peter Zeitlinger's images give the film its only asset. Clearly Herzog was hoping to give us a distaff version of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA but his flat screenplay is bereft of anything fresh. Even taking into consideration that English isn't his first language, the script is mundane and none of the actors are able to lift Herzog's words into anything that doesn't sound trite. Truth to tell, I found LAWRENCE OF ARABIA tedious at times too but at least David Lean knew what he was doing. QUEEN lacks any intricacy or insight. I don't know what drew Herzog to this project other than perhaps showing he could make a big budget mainstream epic too. Considering what she had to work with, Kidman's performance isn't bad at all. With James Franco, Jenny Agutter and Damian Lewis.