Customer Reviews

Passion in the Desert [VHS]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It's hard to add to what the other 5-star reviewers have said. Yes, it will probably not play well to a group of friends on a Saturday night. The movie speaks too deeply for that kind of crowd. But if you allow yourself to listen, it has the power to really move you. This movie is about more than the seemingly sensational man-leopard love affair. It's about what it means to be human, our separation from our fellow creatures, and the ultimate consequences of that separation. The final image sums it all up so powerfully that I am moved to tears just thinking about it. One of the most beautiful (on any level I can think of) and eloquent movies of all time. I wish everyone could see it.

I can understand Riamon's criticism of the film. The film *is* flawed. Before we meet Simoom the leopardess, the action is forced, the motivations unclear, and, the whole thing seems calculated to steer you into the main action like early horror movies (don't open that door, stupid...why did he open that door? ). Oh, and there are far too many long, lingering shots of augustin doing something narcissitic. That's the bad news.

The good news is this: It is beautiful. Stunning even. And it is a real, completely irony-less, tragedy. After Simoom comes on the scene, the love story happens naturally. Absolutely ineluctable, absolutely effortless, the movie moves towards the tragic ending, as unstoppable as a sandstorm, as quiet as a desert, as relentless as love. The ending was no suprise at all, but haunted me for days afterwards. I loved it.

Saving Private Ryan may win the Oscar for best film but hands down the best of 1998 is Passion in the Desert. The beauty and majesty of Eygpt are set against the struggle of one man to find his humanity while the horrors of war rage around him. The relationship forged with a great cat is the path back to his humanity. This film offers many levels of interpretation, and becomes a wonderful example of all movie making can be. The breath taking vistas of the desert are coupled with excellect acting. The controversial novel is brought to life retaining all its power and vitiality. A thought provoking must see.

We hunger for Simoom: that object of intoxicating, addictive, ultimately deadly passion. Simoom, also a Saharan wind, comes from an Arabic word for "poisonous drug". But a poison is only dangerous if consumed, and Balzac's caution for lovers is to deny the overpowering need to consume--or possess. Yet perhaps passion is inevitably consuming...This is a lyrical, stunningly well made production of a tale that should have been impossible to film, and lingers in memory as a shimmering mirage. Its attention to detail, even the tack, weapons and tactics of Napoleonic and Mameluke cavalry, its loving caress of the harsh desert landscape itself, its evocation of oppressive sun, heat, thirst, hunger and desperation, all permit the magical human-djinn-leopard relationship to evolve so naturally: heartbreakingly real yet seductively veiled in entrancing ambiguity. "Passion" is a flawless jewel that may have been lost in the sands but once found, will haunt you for years.

"Passion in the Desert" is not the most original film I've ever, but it comes close. As a previous reviewer has noted, abstracting it into a "man falls in love with leopard" scheme is imperceptive, because, quite frankly, it is not a film about love, but about madness; or perhaps it is about love as madness; or perhaps it is about situations where both love and madness are inapplicable. The film has strong Zen tendencies; it takes long looks. We see desert plants. Occasional animals. Lots of sand. Hot, shifting, yellow sand. Endless expanse of blue, cloudless sky. The camera will hover for a bit, and we're thinking, "This is just setup, there will be a pan to a character, or a gruesome scene," but no, the scenery is the point. It's pretty, and that's enthralling enough.

In the beginning of the film we are introduced to Augusten, a soldier of rank in Napoleon's army. Augusten's task is to make sure Venture, the wizened artist sent to capture the charms of Egypt on paper, doesn't come to harm. Lagging behind the rest of the army, the two get lost in a sandstorm ("Simoom - the breath of the desert!"). Soon they are running out of water, and Augusten is on the edge of hysteria ("You can't get lost in Egypt! There's the Nile, and there's the sea!"). The men part. At this point, the film shifts from dialog to pure emotion, pure sensation. There's a nice parallel between the scenes in which Venture drinks his paints ("A tasty color!") and shoots himself, and Augusten puts his dying horse out of its misery. Augusten stumbles into a Bedouin camp and rips open a waterskin and extatically gulps water. There are several such scenes. He is pursued by riders, who draw back when Augusten enters a rocky labyrinth of cliffs and caves ("Let the jinn catch him," they mutter).

The film enters the main course when the "jinn" is revealed to be a leopard. At first Augusten hears it, then meets it face to face and is frightened by the beast. The leopard is magnificent. Its eyes glow like candles. At first she treats him like a jackal, only letting him drink after she's done. In another scene she looks on contemptuously as Augustus scurries to a carcass of a deer, but soon this scene becomes a bizarre dinner party. Soon Augusten adapts to the situation. His manner is looser; he has, at least for now, survived. He lounges in the sun; he parades ants ("About face!"). He plays slow-motion cat and mouse with the leopard. Perhaps he is mad, perhaps he simply has nothing else to do. As the beast gets used to his presence, even comes to enjoy it, Augusten falls in love with her, possibly to humour himself. He follows it, suggesting names. He holds her by the front paws and dances. They caress and lick each other. There's a nice scene where Augusten pretends to be a jinn and steals a goat kid from a herder boy, and a scene wher Simoom seems to prefer another leopard to him, so he paints spots on himself...

The sound track is an eclectic mix of symphonic and eastern melodies, harmoniously accenting scenes. It is another venue of communication in a film that largely eschews dialog in favor of visual and aural lexicons, and meets great success.

OK, OK. It sounds a little weird. But those who distill "Passion in the Desert" down to "a guy falls in love with a leopard" actually miss the point. The interesting thing about this movie is not its unique and stark setting, or the strange match of its two protagonists, but the way the film manages to paint a metaphorical portrait of love and all the slings and arrows that go with it -- and it does so almost wordlessly. The resulting film is curiously pure, strange, and unforgettable.

Even the first act, which is more or less a conventional portrait of two men lost in the desert in Napoleonic times -- has a richness and poignancy we don't often see in film today. In one scene, a thirsty artist drinks his own paints in desperation, and the image of his paint-stained lips is haunting.

But ultimately this is a movie about love, a sensitively told fable, gorgeously photographed, about a man who is first mysteriously protected by -- and then drawn to -- a wild she-leopard, and of the way the leopard begins to draw him into her world. The movie isn't so much about men vs. leopards (or "men with leopards!" tabloid-style -- the movie stops short of portraying the affection between the two in the biblical sense, although there is some ambiguity there) as it is about the nature of love itself. The film paints some fresh, unsettling, and sometimes amusing portraits of the things people do when they're in love -- all the way down to the spitefulness and jealousy that come into play when that love is threatened.

By the end of the film, the story has become almost Shakespearean in its depth and richness as the plot plays out to its haunting end. At this point, the roles have almost reversed -- the man has become wild and catlike, and the she-leopard seems strikingly human and thoughtful in her expressions and her actions. The film is the first I've ever seen which actually raises some uncomfortable and ultimately fascinating questions about the possibility of a human falling in love with an animal -- and it explores these questions gracefully and without sensationalism.

All in all, "Passion in the Desert" was an exquisite film that really moved me -- the performances, both human and animal, are breathtaking and frankly amazed me, and the cinematography and music are glorious. (Too bad there aren't animal Oscars -- the she-leopard in this film really gives an incredible performance.) Bottom Line: If you're looking for something off the beaten path (no pun intended), this film's a keeper.

I love accidently finding a great movie that for whatever reason fell between the cracks, and vanished into the dusty shelves of the video store. Upon watching this flick be prepared for striking cinematography of stunning landscape (an Oasis in every sense of the word), great acting, unique story, beautiful actors, and almost perfect dialouge. Daniels is fantastic as he and his partner move through a common cycle of relationship. I really do wish this masterpiece becomes availible on DVD.

Very offbeat--a movie you won't soon forget. A little awkward in spots, even laughable if you watch it in a group or late at night, but otherwise not bad. The Balzac novella it was based on is an ingenious piece of writing that defies replication, and in my opinion Currier's interpretation has a very different focus than the literary master intended. But if you like movies that appeal to your darkest subconscious drives, this movie is a deeply sensual experience that is still tasteful enough to offend only the most conservative of viewers.

This film is among the best I have seen. Beautifully acted, directed, and shot, the visual impact is breathtaking throughout. Surpassing even the beauty of the film, though, is the intelligence and bravery with which Lavinia Currier has opened an exploration of human relationship to nature, and of the pathological need to dominate what we do not understand or cannot control. Ben Daniels' powerful acting (and enviable, if dangerous, role) illustrates the struggle between bravery, honesty and fear more clearly than I have seen in any other film. The questions raised about natural/spiritual power being expressed freely (as taught by Simoom) or warped into domination born of fear are not for emotional cowards: I think this film has been poorly received by some only because it is profoundly unsettling in its intensity and honesty. The ecological and feminist themes are clear, though never didactic, and challenge the viewer deeply. Passion in the Desert is parable, metaphor, challenge to cowardice and failure of connection, and celebration of beauty. I bought this film, and each viewing yields new insight; more like this, please...

This is a wonderfully filmed version of a wonderful short story by Balzac. In the story, we "hear" an old soldier reminisce about a terrible episode in his life--how he became friends with a wild panther (black leopard) in the desert and how that friendship came to a tragic end. (By the way, there are not many prose narratives that have the "form" of literary tragedies, so Balzac's story is a very rare thing and is well worth looking up and reading.)

The spirit of the original story is kept in this film, and the overall impact at the ending is the same. I have recommended this film to many of my friends who teach literature, and I don't know of a single one who has been disappointed by it.

Among the bonus features is material about how this film was made--using a very dangerous array of leopards.