Theeb Movie Essay

The movie Theeb follows a young Bedouin boy, Theeb, through the Ottoman province of Hijaz. Theeb endures a coming-of-age experience in a society that is seemingly foreign to people living in the civilized world. The Bedouins are a nomadic people who historically roam the Arabian and Syrian deserts following their herd. In Arabic, Theeb translates to Wolf, which foreshadows his introduction to manhood. According to the Britannica, Bedouin society is tribal and patriarchal, typically composed of extended families that are patrilineal, endogamous, and polygynous. The film depicts acts of hospitality, loyalty, and courage. Theeb’s filmmaker Naji Abu Nowar spent a year in the desert living among the last nomadic Bedouin tribe in Jordan. While with the tribe, Abu Nowar observed the customs in preparation for the film. The movie is set in 1916 as the Ottoman Empire is falling. I will assert that the movie Theeb is a moving experience that depicts the virtues instilled in the Bedouin culture. The film opens with the following poem

He also added that all of those virtues existed among the Bedouins even before Islam. The Bedouin are a largely nomadic people who are more concerned with surviving than almost anything people in the civilized world worry about. It is easy to understand how people who are forced to have minimal personal items would be humble natured. The Encyclopedia describes the significance of children in the Bedouin society, “By the age of 6 or 7, the child begins to take on simple household tasks and soon thereafter becomes a full working member of the family. Adolescence is hardly recognized; by the early teens, the individual is accepted as a full working member of Bedouin society.” Critical points in the movie attest to the virtues instilled in Theeb, as he becomes a man of the