Into The Desert Sparknotes

Shot with formal elegance, “The Queen of the Desert” marks the return of the celebrated German director Werner Herzog to fiction, after six years of documentaries, which include the pictorial “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and the mandatory “Into the Abyss”.

Set in the early Twentieth century, the film is a biographical drama focused on Gertrud Bell who drew the attention of the world not only for being a courageous traveler but also for her work as a writer, archeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political officer for the British Empire.
Ms. Bell, played with the usual graciousness by Nicole Kidman, feels domesticated and shows an adventurer spirit since an early stage, begging her father to let her go away to anywhere in the world. Her father decides to send her to Tehran, to live with her immoderate uncle, an important figure of the British embassy in that city. Once there, she falls for the charming Henry Cadogan (James Franco), an Embassy worker designated to be her guardian and entertainer. Henry shares with her the same interest for the Persian Omar Khayyam’s poetry but doesn’t tell her about his gambling addiction and debts. Regardless this detail, the pair is willing to get married, but the plan is never consummated, though. Gertrud’s father doesn’t give his consent, and some time later Henry is found dead.

Despite disobeying orders, she gains the respect of the British Bureau and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for her ability to establish bilateral relations between countries and their