Complete credited cast: | |||
Ben Daniels | ... | Augustin Robert | |
Michel Piccoli | ... | Jean-Michel Venture de Paradis | |
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Paul M. Meston | ... | Grognard (as Paul Meston) |
Kenneth Collard | ... | Officer | |
Nadia Odeh | ... | Bedouin Bride | |
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Auda Mohammed Badoul | ... | Shepherd Boy |
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Mohammed Ali | ... | Medicine Man |
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Habis Hussein | ... | Bedouin |
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Tasheen Kwalda | ... | Bedouin |
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Ismael Al-Hamd | ... | Bedouin |
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James Peck | ... | Soldier |
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Nicolas Sagalle | ... | Soldier |
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Abdul Latif Salazar | ... | Soldier |
Young French officer Augustin Robert escorts artist Jean-Michel Venture de Paradis to Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Napoleon sent de Paradis to record Egypt's great monuments and temples that are destroyed by French soldiers in acts of barbarism. During combat, Augustin and Jean-Michel are separated from their regiment, and they start wandering through the desert fighting for their life. In one of the canyons Augustin meets a leopard he names Simoom and a strange bond between them appears. Written by Anonymous
A film about the relationship between a man and leopard that's very reminiscent of "The English Patient," even down to a scene similar to when Ralph Fiennes' character carries the body of his lover across a desert-rock cliff. In "A Passion in the Desert," the main character carries the body of the leopard across a desert-rock cliff but in the opposite direction (calculated decision or unconscious contrast?). Historically expanded from a very short Balzac story, the film is not perfect but a treat no less. Final shot will haunt me for weeks. (8 of 10)