The film revolves around the life of the British explorer and adventurer Gertrude Bell in the twentieth century. The film explores Bill's life story from her early twenties to her death.
As stunningly picturesque as all of this undeniably proves to be, Queen of the Desert is a barren emotional quagmire, Bell's incredible story deserving of so much more than this movie sadly proves to be willing to offer.
... offers a half-hearted examination of colonialism and pre-war British foreign policy, although much of the context becomes lost in a film that turns rambling and tedious when it should be at its most suspenseful.
Bell was an extraordinary figure, tailor-made for a dazzling presence like Kidman, but Werner Herzog, directing his own script, unwisely structures Bell's story around her intimate relationships with men.
Even the stodgiest biopic would be redeemed by Mr. Herzog's eye. The shots that track Bell into her meetings with Arab leaders may have you catching your breath.
This may be Werner Herzog's most conventional film, but its mostly untold true story knows what it means for a woman to choose a life of adventure and intellect.
Romantic longing has never really been part of Herzog's cinematic vocabulary (love in his films typically looks like manic obsession), which may explain why some of it is more stiff than emotionally moving.
