BLACK GOLD

Year: 2011
UK: Warner Bros Pictures International UK
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Antonia Banderas, Mark Strong, Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Akin Gazi, Liya Kebede
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Countries: France / Italy / Qatar
UK: 130 mins
UK Certificate: 12 A contains moderate violence and one scene of moderate sex
UK Release Date: 24 February 2012 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

BLACK GOLD tells the story of the rivalry between two Emirs in Arabia in the 1930s just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdom.

The victor, Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, proclaims his terms for peace against his rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib will adopt Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda to guarantee that neither man can invade the other.

Twelve years has passed and Saleeh, the warrior, yearns to return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas who tells him that the land is rich with oil and promises him wealth beyond his wildest imagination.

However, there is only one problem, the precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.