Our perception of Saudi Arabia may well be altered (and maybe a bit unfairly). They are depicted as deceptive and cruel. One helps to balance a little bit. Saudi Arabia is known to be very wealthy, but a lot of dirty work still needs to be done. Saudi Arabia recruits cheap labor. In this film Najeeb is recruited from the Kerala area of India. He thinks he is going to make extra money to support his beautiful wife (and she really is), but ), but he is deceived and ends up in Saudi Arabia.
Language is a key element in that he cannot make himself understood. He is brutally slapped, beaten and pushed. Eventually he ends up with a goat herd, but has no experience. We see him trying to milk a goat from the wrong side. Later on we see he has learned the proper way. More so than other films I have seen he relates to camels almost like a domestic dog.
He is brutally treated like a slave with no rights and thought of escape. Luckily he meets Khadiri, an experienced and calm man. They plan to follow a road, but initially the first pursuit drives them away from the road. Khadiri does not panic and leads two others explaining that he is following the sun heading west. It is quite an ordeal still and if you have no stomach for such things you might want to fast forward.
If you bear with it you will better appreciate it is not an ordinary movie. Some of the contributors are below.
It all started with a book by Benyamin. He has written 30 books, mostly for the Malayalam market. This book has become a text book with 4 universities. He co-wrote the script.
Blessy was director and co-writer had seen this film as his most major project, but it ended up taking 6 years partially due to the Covid Pandemic. He has 9 credits as a director, 15 as an assistant director and 9 as a writer. The Guinness Book of World Records declared the longest documentary to be Blessy's "100 Years of Chrysostom" ( 2018) at 48 hours and ten minutes.
A.R. Rahman provided the music setting the mood expertly. He had done commercial jingles when Mani Ratman invited him to write for a film "Roja" (1992). I had not realized that Rahman wrote for the Tamil market, but has expanded to Bollywood, American, English etc. With the encouragement of Andrew Lloyd Webber he wrote for a stage musical, "Bombay Dreams" that had long runs in both London and New York. He has 201 composing credits and 81 for the music department (often backup singer) including "Bombay" (1995), "Fire" (1996), "Lagaan Once Upon a Time in India" (2001), "Swades" (2004), "Water" (2005), "Rang de Basanti" (2006), "Ghajini" (2008), "Slum Dog Millionaire" (2008), "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" (2012), "Highway" (2014), "100 Foot Journey" (2014), "Tamasha" (2015) and "Maidaan" (2024). Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/07/the-making-of-lagaan-chale-chalo-lunacy.html Elsewhere Rahman had commented that he often gives producers a difficult time in order to get what he wants and feels the film benefits.
K.U. Mohanan was a cinematographer. He has 32 cinematography credits, 5 for the camera and electrical department and 1 for production manager, including "Don" (2006), "We Are Family" (2010), "Talaash" (2012), "Fukrey" (2013), "Raees" (2017) and "Andhadhun" (2018).
A.Sreekar Prasad has over 260 film credits with IMDB in multi languages indicating he is in big demand. His films include "Dil Chatha Hai" (2001), "A Peck on the Cheek" (2002), "Mangal Pandey: The Rising" (2005), "Guru" (2007), "Talvar" (2015), "The Ghazi Attack" (2017) "Taramani" (2017) "Super 30" (2020) and "RRR" (2022).http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/02/super-30-puts-focus-on-education.html
Prithtviraj Sukumaran plays Najib. He has 127 acting credits, 15 music department (mostly as playback singer) and 10 as producer including "Urami: The Warriors Who wanted to Kill Vasco Da Gama" 2011), "Jana Gana Mana" (2022) and "Anweshippin Kandethum" (2024). See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/03/anweshippin-kandethum.html
Jimmy Jean-Louis plays Kediri who helps Najib escape. Jimmy was born in Haiti and moved with family to Paris, France. He became a model traveling across Europe and got involved in musical theatre in Spain. He speaks 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole. During the 2010 earthquake he traveled and discovered most of his family had died. He got involved in charity efforts to support Haiti. He has 98 acting credits, 22 for producing and 3 for writing.including "Misererere" (2013).
Amala Paul plays Najib's wife (mostly in flashback). She has 49 acting credits including "Oru Indian Pranayakatha" (2013) and "The Teacher" (2022).
Shobha Mohan plays Najib's mother. She has 85 acting credits including "Drishyam" (2013) and "Drishyam 2" (2021). Shobha was in the Malayalama, the orignator of what has become a franchise which you can read about at http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/02/drishyam-2-signifies-new-global-movie.html
Talib Al Belushi plays Kafeel, the brutal Arab boss who insulted and tortured Najib. He has performed in Oman, but there are no records/ He does have a Ph.D. in film studies. He did appear in a joint Omani-Malayalam joint film what got the attention of Blessy. "The Goat Life" was not allowed in Oman or Saudi Arabia so he visited Kerala to praise the film and hope the audience wouldn't hate him for being the villain as that is mostly how he can been cast in Oman.
Rik Aby play Kafeel's son. At one point he was involved with voice over work. He has 22 acting credits including "Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga" (2023).
Survivor movies can be a grind to watch, but this is professionally done. I have found the Malayalam films are mostly above average. Available subtitled on Netflix.
As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen. They are not necessarily a recommendation, but generally I found them worthy of my time. If you follow the links you should be able to determine if a particular film is worth following up
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