Sahara

It seems a wee bit misleading to call this program Sahara when it never for one moment touches on the general history, geology, people or cultures of the world's largest desert, the Sahara. It never so much as mentions Algeria, Tunisia, Chad, Mali or Egypt and only briefly mentions Morocco. In fact, this Spanish film production (with English voice-over narration) focuses exclusively on an obscure tribal conflict in a tiny, disputed region of Western Sahara (which is kind of like making a film on the Sorghum Rebellion of 1856 and calling it China). Anyway, having said that, this film is a well made and engrossing production which covers a very specific array of esoteric topics: the Polisary guerrilla rebellion, the effects of Spanish colonialism on Western Africa, the phosphate conflict between Morocco and Mauritania since 1960, and the Sahrawi refugee camps. We see nomads and camels in the desert, mystical men chanting, women war whooping, and people sincerely testifying about the evils of colonialism and the displacement of once happy people. A highly stylized production filmed in gorgeous cinemascope, "The Sahara" it ain't, but larger collections will want to consider. Recommended. Aud: C. (R. Ray)