In a period in which I spend my weekends working on a house that I bought with my girlfriend, we don’t spend time on chosing and watching descent films. I saw that this film with Penelope Cruz would be shown on TV, so we just decided to watch it. “Sahara” starts off not bad at all. Cruz and another doctor travel through Africa for the WHO and discover a starting epidemic. Also travelling through Africa, but for entirely different reasons, namely treasure-hunting, is a group of three men. This part nicely shows African culture, the dealings of warlords, local quarrels, etc. and this with the meddling of Westerners who sometimes find their way through that culture very well. It reminded me a bit of some film about Muslim extremism that I saw pieces of a few weeks ago. A nice atmosphere and apparently a good look into the local culture and the way Westerners go around in it. Lateron the film moves more into some kind of Indiana Jones adventure film, which is still not too bad, but towards the end “Sahara” becomes more of a 007 spectacle which is not very interesting. The only thing to compensate the downfall of the film and story, is Penelope who becomes more and more a pleasure to watch as the film continues.
Overall just another Hollywood film, inspite of the strong opening.
-2-