The Wind and the Lion

Director: John Milius
Cast: Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, Brian Keith, John Huston
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama 1975
Running time: 119 mins.
Rating:★★★★

In 1904 Morocco, European powers desire a foothold in the Arab world and dessert chieftain, Raisuli (Sean Connery) is determined to stir up tribal fury against them. So he kidnaps an American widow (Candice Bergen) and her children, igniting a chain of events that include President Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Keith) wielding the big stick of foreign policy and Raisuli matching wits and sharing mutual admiration with his lovely captive.

Was there no speech/dialect coach back in the late 70's to work with Sean Connery? His Scottish accent is very present, even though he is suppose to portray an Arab/Berber. Since, it's Sean Connery after all, it doesn't really matter. A diplomatic and calm leader, whose stubbornness and ego is his major weakness. Candice Bergen, before Murphy Brown and Miss Congeniality, gives a very sensuous, strong, stubborn, and vulnerable performances that wonderfully balances Connery's. Cautious and awkward tension in the beginning, as well as each other's stubbornness, makes the romance more desirable. It is a welcomed predictability because it happens organically, not with over the top clues in dialogue, visuals, and soundtrack.

The overall theme is that "lions are noble", but vicious and the winds can come in silently, are strong, sometimes destructive, some times pleasant, and go in the same manner that it came.  Or perhaps like in the ending monologue from Raisuli, "I like the lion, must stay in my place, while you, the wind, will never know yours."

Love the well-shot landscapes of Morocco deserts, though actually shot in Almeria, Spain. The earthy-brown undertones in the Berber scenes and the enriched rose undertones for the European/American is a brilliant contrast of the two conflicting sides.