It seems impossible to make a movie about 9/11 or the "war on terror" without getting sucked into the political dogfight surrounding the mess America now finds itself in. Whether it's "The Road To Guantanamo," "United 97," or even the latest season of "24," it's hard to portray current events — even fictional scenarios — without commentators on the left and right trying to sniff out an agenda.
"The Kingdom," an FBI vs. al-Qaida thriller set in Saudi Arabia, seems to have found its own answer: trying to please everybody. For most of its running time, it's a find-and-kill-the-terrorists revenge flick, red meat for the right. But it also practices the politics of racial inclusion — there are good-guy Saudi cops as well as the usual Arab "evildoers" — and suggests, in a last-minute showstopper, that the cycle of violence — of action and reaction — may not contain any solutions.
"The Kingdom" does moviegoers one big favor, if nothing else, by redirecting our attention to Saudi Arabia, home of Wahhabi fundamentalism, funder to jihad madrasahs in Pakistan, bankroller of the Taliban, and birthplace of both Osama bin Laden and most of the 9-11 hijackers. This is a healthy reminder, given that the Bush administration has done its best to keep us focused on the people who didn't attack the United States on 9-11, the Iraqis, so they can protect their oil industry friends in the ruling feudal aristocracy.