Black Gold (2011)

Black Gold is a 2011 epic drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and produced by Tarak Ben Ammar, Chairman of Quinta Communications and co-produced by the Doha Film Institute, Qatar. The film has a budget of US$55 million, and is one of the most expensive films backed by an Arab about an Arab subject. It is based on Hans Ruesch's 1957 novel South of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia.

Synopsis: Emir Nesib (Antonio Banderas), Sultan of a group of tribes and Sultan Amar (Mark Strong) of Salma have a dispute with their border. Both have been fighting war for a vast barren land they call "The Yellow Belt". Emir Nesib decides to put an end to the war by striking a deal with Sultan Amar. They meet and make a peace pact, deciding that the Yellow Belt belongs to neither and should be left as a no man's land. As a guarantee, Emir Nesib takes Sultan Amar's kids Saleh and Auda so that Sultan would not break the pact. Sultan, though reluctant, but being a god fearing and orthodox person, agrees, when Nesib promises him that the kids will be treated as Nesib's own along with his kids Tariq and Leyla. Saleh is free spirited while Auda is an introvert who is always into books. Leyla and Auda become good friends until Leyla's caretaker intervenes and asks her to stop meeting men as she is becoming adolscent.

Years pass and the kids grow up. Auda (Tahar Rahim) is still the bookworm, while Saleh(Akin Gazi) hopes to see his father someday. Nesib starts to get worried as he does not have enough money and there is nothing around him but desert and sand. Sam Thurkettle(Corey Johnson) is a geologist working for a western oil firm called Texan Oil meets Nesib after making some survey in the Yellow Belt. Nesib initially refuses to believe Sam saying that there is only sand and nothing else. Sam shows him a piece of black shale and convinces Nesib that it is an indication of crude oil beneath the ground. He explains Nesib that crude oil is very valuable and if Nesib lets him extract oil, his company would pay him phenomenal money, that would make him richer than the Queen of England. Nesib accepts the offer and lets the westerners to extract oil from the yellow belt, thus violating the peace pact. Money slowly starts to pour in and Nesib starts to modernize his country by building schools, hospitals etc. Nesib makes Auda the national librarian and Tariq their Colonel. He send his envoy to Amar to strike a deal to extract oil from the yellow belt. Meanwhile, some radicals attack one of the oil site and kill the crew there. Nesib learns that it is the act of his other tribes men and manages to convince all his tribes to accept oil extraction by gifting them valuables. The envoy returns and tells Nesib that Amar considers the exploitaion of yellow belt is a violation of the treaty. Saleh tells Auda that he can convince their father(Amar) and decides to leave with out informing anyone. Halfway through Saleh kills his support staff and flees the scene.