‘Alhamour H.A.’ Review: Saudi Arabia’s Oscar Submission Is a Wannabe ‘Wolf of Wall Street’
variety.comMichael Nordine author Greed may not be good, but it is universal. And while America would appear to have a monopoly on movies about the pursuit of wealth for wealth’s sake, plenty of other nations have exported their version of the rags-to-riches tale — of which Saudi Arabia’s Oscar submission, “Alhamour H.A.,” is just the latest.
Like its security-guard-turned-swindler protagonist, director Abdulelah Alqurashi’s film doesn’t lack for ambition. Unlike him, it never reaches great heights before falling back to earth.
Hamed’s (Fahad Alqahtani) Icarus-like flight takes him from Mecca to Jeddah, where he gets a taste of the good life from afar as a security guard at an oceanfront residential building; after resigning to avoid being fired over his habit of making too much conversation, he calls in a favor from his brother-in-law and begins working at a cell center.
Hamed insists he can sell anything, and does have an easy charisma about him — a smooth talker with an innate ability to win over people initially inclined to dislike him, he’s also a bit of a hustler.
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