For Want of Objectivity, ‘The Kingdom’ Was Lost

When the tagline of a film reads 'An elite FBI team sent to find a killer in Saudi Arabia. Now they have become the target.', one knows before the movie begins that the screen will be laced with dollops of jingoism.

This statement, however, takes nothing away from films such as Gaghan’s Syriana, or Greengrass’ United 93. In fact, of late, at least some filmmakers belonging to mainstream Hollywood have tried to break the shackles, while attempting cinema with political undertones—Stephen Gaghan (mainstream Hollywood film: Abandon), for example, or Paul Greengrass (made The Bourne Ultimatum). To be very frank, I had not heard of either of these directors when I watched their ‘political’ films but was, on both occasions, pleasantly surprised. I did not have much clue about Peter Berg, either, director of The Kingdom. 

But from the opening credits themselves (although splendidly crafted with graphics reminiscent of the credits at the start of Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can), which is actually a short history of the land, beginning with the formation of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, one understands that this is not going to be a film that does the balancing act. 

In fact, there is one particular sequence in the film involving an Attorney General and Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) where it is made amply clear that 'the situation' will be seen through the eyes of the FBI agents. Ironically, this holds true for the entire film.

For those of us who tuned in late, or were not paying much attention to the voice-over that accompanied the beginning credits, the opening sequence left no stone unturned to emphasize the film’s stance. We open inside a secure American compound inside Riyadh. Some are busy playing that iconic of all American sport, baseball, while some are having a barbecue. 

Almost as alien in nature as a vehicle carrying individuals dressed in police uniforms, who in a few moments will inexplicably open fire on the American families, a 'gaze' enters the screen. We find a Saudi father and his son, side by side on the balcony of a tall building. The son has binoculars on. When the individuals in the car start shooting, the boy naturally wants to see what all the firing is all about, but the man urges him to look at the park, instead. 

I was, for a moment, tempted to think that this is some Western point of view of how people in Middle East crave for the American 'way of living', when a blast occurred in the middle of the park—a blast brought about by a suicide bomber. The boy, and his father, of course, watched the entire place go up in smoke.

Now, we cut to an American school, a kindergarten one, where we come face to face with the protagonist, Ronald Fleury. We find Fleury is a father as well, and he is attending his son’s class who is showing a scrapbook full of photos of himself and his father to his classmates.

Subtlety, be damned!

If this acutely insensitive contrast wasn’t enough to drive home the point, Fleury starts relating to the class the 'happiest day' of his life—the day his son was born. The screenwriter, Matthew Michael Carnahan, it seems could not resist the temptation of drawing a simile between a not-so-smooth birth of Fleury’s son with the 'Let’s go in and take it out' attitude of the Special Agents of the FBI.

I balked.

There really is nothing much to the story. The attack on the American compound, followed by another blast, kills hundreds. The US State Department is not really keen on taking any action primarily because of concerns over ‘territorialism’. So, a group of four special agents—bomb expert Sykes (Chris Cooper), forensic expert Mayes (Jennifer Garner), and Leavitt (Jason Bateman), led by Fleury, coax their way into The Kingdom. It so happens that one of their own was killed in the second explosion. Hence, the mission was quite ‘personal’, for at least two of the team members.

Let me be very frank. I did not start watching the film expecting a Battle of Algiers. But I was appalled at the number of stereotypes that were hurled at the audience one after another. The sadistic colonel; the inept local police force, who needs an American to point out that witnesses need to be questioned; the initially reluctant, but ultimately helpful ally; individuals who literally stare agape at the efficiency of an American bomb expert, who knows exactly where to look; people whose aim mysteriously go haywire when shooting FBI Special Agents… the list goes on and on. Needless to say, the film itself becomes a typical ‘search for the killer’ flick.

SPOILER AHEAD

If there is one redeeming factor in the entire film, it is its last scene. Berg goes back to an earlier sequence wherein FBI has just learnt that one of their own had died. Fleury bends down and whispers something (inaudible to us) to Mayes. In the last scene of the film we find a small Arab girl, whose grandfather was the mastermind behind the attack on the Americans, tell us and her mother what the last words of her grandfather was. It seems Fleury and the old man spoke the same exact words: 'Don’t worry, we will kill them all.'

We get your point, Mr Berg.

But it’s too little, too late.