The story of Mussolini's Italian Colonisation of Libya and the 6th Governor who leads the offensive against the native resistance. The resistance is led by Omar al-Mukhtar Muhammad bin Farhat al-Manifi, a teacher of the Qur'an by profession, he was also skilled in the strategies and tactics of desert warfare, known locally by the Italians as 'Matari of the Mnifa' and here known as Lion of the Desert, the leader of native resistance in Eastern Libya under the Senussids. He is considered the national hero of Libya and a symbol of resistance in the Berber, Arab and Islamic worlds.Like 'Battle of the Algiers', detailing French colonistion, it was banned. 'Lions of the Desert' was banned for 7 years in Italy. We don't fully get to grips with the real people of this story, they are a bit thinly-drawn, and the narrative dynamic is a well worn David vs Goliath turn which continues to be made in equivalent films such as like Braveheart (1995). Nevertheless, the story is a good one and the war strategy and tactics played out are interesting. The battle sequences are right in number, but editing is not tight enough so it begins to drag in the middle, and for a biopic we needed more backstory for the marvellous Anthony Quinn to get his teeth into. Nonetheless, the locations are magnificently pictured, all filmed in Libya, and all the performances are good, even if the acting is a little hammy in places; we can almost look past the English character actors as part of the Lion's faithful crew.

A brilliant, sweeping historical masterpiece based on the true story of Omar Mukhtar, a teacher, who earned the nickname "the Lion of the Desert". Intelligent script, Magnificent acting, directing, and cinematography make this film one of the best anti-imperialist war films; depicting the great bravery and intelligence of one man and of one country's resistance against imperialist designs.The story depicts post-World War 1, but pre-WW2 era. Mussolini decides to use Libya as an "easy stepping stone" to carving up the Middle East. Libya turns out to not be such an easy stepping stone. The Italians may have had machine guns, planes and tanks; while the Libyan peasants had nothing, but old rusted rifles. However the Libyans had something the Italians didn't, conviction: They were willing to die to save their land and keep their independence. When Italian General Graziani asks "and you cared nothing for the ruination of your country?" Omar Mukhtar replies: "You are the ruination of my country. What would you do if someone occupied your land? Though brutal, there were conscientious objectors in the Italian army and one of the fascinating features of this film is their depiction from the soldier unwilling to serve to the Officer who defends him. The director captures the horrific methods the Italians used from concentration camps, setting fields and homes on fire to raping innocent women. However, what is shown is only a small fraction of the ruthless brutality used by Gen. Graziani against the civilian population. He was responsible for the slaughter of over 120,000 civilians in these concentration camps. To this day, this film is still banned in Italy. In fact, Graziani served only 2 years for his crimes after the fall of Fascism, and even became honorary president of the (legal) neo-fascist party.

Now that Libya is in the news, it might be good to look at this film, made 30 years ago. It deals with the two decades long rebellion by one Omar Mukhtar against the Italian colonial authorities in Libya, and how it was finally suppressed, through ruthless means, by the army of Mussolini in 1931. This movie was famously financed by Gaddhafi, whose funds allowed this relatively unknown war to be brought to the screen with a decent budget. The director was Syria's Mustapha Akkad, who would die two decades and a half later in a terrorist bombing. With its fine battle scenes, showing a diversity of military tactics, I think that military buffs will especially appreciate this film. The movie naturally has an anti colonialist point of view, but it's not unfair to the Italians, who are the center of much of the movie (despite this, this movie was banned in Italy for decades). As a movie dealing with the anti colonial struggle in the Arab world it can be favorably compared to the Battle of Algiers (Lawrence of Arabia is another movie that comes to mind). Anthony Quinn is impressive as the old, noble Omar, but the best performance of the movie to me is by Oliver Reed, as the brilliant but ruthless Italian general Graziani. Unfortunately, Rod Steiger, in his brief role as the Duce, just doesn't cut it, it looks like a poor parody and he even looks embarrassed to be there. And while not as bad a performance, John Gielgud is just not believable in his supporting role as an Arab sheik allied with the Italians. The movie could have been a bit tighter as well (it's almost three hours long) but despite these minor flaws, I recommended strongly.

I was almost out of high school and a big history and war movie buff when I saw the marque poster in a nearby cinema. I caught it on a matinée and was captivated throughout the whole movie. It's definitely an epic, with wide shots of the deserts, immense deployment of extras, intense battle scenes, all whirling around the main character, Omar Mukhtar, played quite well by Anthony Quinn. While there is the sense of futility in the struggle between the old world of the desert and the new order of the industrial 'modern' world, I found a feeling of half-victory, where the battle was lost(despite some tough fighting), but the war was in no way won by the Italians. Overall a great picture. One of the most memorable scenes for me: after an Italian column is smashed by Mukhtar's men, one of his men shoots an Italian who surrendered. Quinn grabs the weapon, and insists they do not shoot those who surrender. The shooter retorts that the Italians do it to their people, and Quinn asks 'and you will allow them to be your teachers?'. That scene always stayed with me...