MovieChat Forums > A Hologram for the King (2016) Discussion > Anti Saudi

Anti Saudi

posted 8 years ago by Royalcourtier
10 replies | jump to latest

This film could not be more anti-Saudi if it was made by ISIS. The country is represented as corrupt, hypocritical, backward, disorganised, with oppressed villagers and exploited overseas workers. The local women engage eagerly in extramarital sex with American men, the local businessmen openly drink alcohol. Mecca was treated as a police-state, and the police as people to be avoided and feared. If I was the Saudi king I would buy every copy of this film and burn it.

[–] georgiosm-46616 8 years ago

Considering the thousands of articles you can find about mistreated workers, deaths, rapes, women with no right etc etc I would say that the movie is spot on

[–] indialm 8 years ago

Lighten up. EVERY country on the planet has corrupt politicians and gov'ts, etc.
If you can't have a sense of humor about it you'll just get depressed.

[–] andyemunro 8 years ago

I'm currently working in Saudi Arabia, if anything a lot of the events are playing things down. If were more true to real life from a westerners point of view, it would come across as much more damning. However, as a Western, and despite frustrations I have due to a massive culture change for me, I will defend the Saudi people.

"The country is represented as corrupt, hypocritical, backward, disorganised, with oppressed villagers and exploited overseas workers."

There is a lot of corruption here, there are reports in the daily Arab news outlets, but there is also a lot of corruption in every other country.

Hypocritical - yes there is a lot of hypocrisy displayed here. Goto an embassy party, a house party on an American compound or travel to Bahrain by air or car for examples. There are a lot of changes being brought about, and a by product of those changes is hypocrisy.

Backward, disorganised - yes, but people forget that it is still considered a third world country and there is a lot of reliance still of experts working as consultants to help bring the country forward and put some sort of organisation in place.

Oppressed villagers - I'm not sure about oppressed, but the villages away from the cities such as Riyadh are very tribal and there is a massive difference in quality of life.

Exploited over seas workers - unfortunately this is a major issue that the government is working hard to control. A lot of Asian expats in the building or cleaning trades are paid less in a month that I pay for food shopping from the supermarket in a week. We have cleaning staff in our offices that were promised by the Asian companies brought them over, that they would be working as teachers or in another respectable profession, but find out the job they actually get is tea boy in an office, or cleaning.

And yes Mecca is to be avoided if your not Muslim, I'm not able to visit our office there. I have been advised never to travel there because if caught, I will be arrested and punished. Some may find that hard to believe or unjustified, but it is the law here, and I will respect it.

And the doctor just simply fell for him over time, not instantly fell into bed with him. The consultant character wasn't local.

There is a lot of money in Saudi Arabia, but it is not divided equally, this is still an up and coming country, with a lot of work left to do. They have a vision for 2030 and the Saudis are doing their best to catch up with the Western world on the industries they want to bring up to scratch in this country.

[–] truetexian 8 years ago

I was going to say many of the same things as 'andyemunro' said, so please read what he/she has written, it saves me a lot of time and effort.
I'll reiterate that there were no local women engaging eagerly in extramarital sex with American men in the movie. Only one, who was in the process of divorce, engaged in extramarital sex but certainly not eagerly and without much preparation and caution. There was also only one 'local businessman' who drank alcohol but he didn't do so 'openly'.
The movie didn't leave me with the impression that Mecca or it's people should be avoided and feared if one IS Muslim.

[–] Royalcourtier 8 years ago

The responses to my first post are probably all true, factually. Bu the fact is that the film is still anti-Saudi in the way that it represents the facts. Imagine a film that was made by the Saudi's, which represented America as a Godless, drunken and fornicating moral wilderness, with corrupt police, corrupt courts, corrupt incompetent and self-serving politicians. All true, but you would still say that the film was anti-American.

[–] GulfamMirza-94030 8 years ago

Just watched the movie having a Sunday Bed Tea. It was awesome work by the Director....Was thinking about the underlying tone: "Time is up for you Saudi Guys....I mean what do you think you are with your robes and all that? Do you think you can *beep* with US buying *beep* from CHINA....." Hmmmm! Time for democracy guys....!

[–] dcbatlle-1 8 years ago

Saudi Arabia is anti Saudi by virtue of being a backward muslim police state and dessert hell hole. Facts are facts bru

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] tlvx 8 years ago

You guys did the 9/11, You are the founder of Al Qaeda , you are funding and arming ISIS, Your country is an absolute dictatorship ruling by a family for nearly a century, women doesn't have any value, ALL YOU HAVE IS OIL MONEY NOTHING MORE JUST OIL, Saudi Barbaria is of course a backward country , tell me about its scientific progresses , what have u done ? even westerners build the houses u live in . u can't even build a simple house, u r nothing but bunch of useless fat arabs who think u can buy anything with money

There's no place in the forums for this kind of hate-speech.

[–] 8 years ago

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