MovieChat Forums > Theeb (2015) Discussion > ottomans and british

ottomans and british

posted 8 years ago by jriley555
2 replies | jump to latest

would an arab have any particular reason to prefer one or the other during the war? there was a promise of arab sovereignty, which the brits (and french) propmptly reneged upon immediately after, and threw in a jewish mandate as a cherry on top, but during the war, perhaps that would have been seen as the better option for arabs anxious to throw off the ottoman yoke.

what i'm wondering is if in the context of the film, there was such a pro-british shading, or if all that was irrelevant to the honor aspect.

theeb didn't betray the bandit to the revolutionaries, but once the bandit cashed in his booty, theeb was ready to execute him.

or was it simply that to betray him would be dishonorable, but to execute him just. that's certainly understandable, but the timimg coming immediately after cashing in certainly had to mean something.

what i'm interested in, if possible, is an actual informed arab/arabist perspective, not another semi-educated american interpreting, as i am.

[–] Geijutsu12 8 years ago

In Bedouin culture, there is very strong emphasis on vendetta. It's something that is still executed among modern day Bedouins till this day. Blood for blood is the general consensus, you either kill the perpetrator or kill someone related to them who is the equivalent of the person they murdered from your clan.

There's a lot of room for interpretation, but I think that Theeb lacked context initially which played a part in him not killing the bandit right away. He might have even bought his excuse that his brother wouldn't be dead if they surrendered and seized fire. I think that it was only after he saw the bandit exchanging the stuff he acquired from the English man for money did it become clear to him that this man murdered his brother for few pennies, which was enough reason to warrant killing the bandit.

[–] prudhocj 7 years ago

Actually, there are many, many Americans who are knowledgeable on this subject! E.G. - do you know that the largest Arabic literature collection IN THE WORLD is in Lubbock, TX. It occupies 2 floors (each 2 city blocks in size) of the Texas Tech library and it is THE prime destination for study for Arabic scholars from all over the world. At the age of 73 I myself have traveled the world for years and spent many years in the Middle East as I admire their contributions to Art, Science and Literature. Although I will not answer your question for you (We'll find out if there are any other "actual informed" people out there who can do that) I will say that the characters here in this fine film are not Bedouins as many posters here assume.