‘Hobal’ Review: A Family of Nomads Is Unsettled by the Future in Dynamic Drama

variety.com:

Stephen Saito There is a bitter irony at the heart of Abdulaziz Alshlahei’s dynamic third feature “Hobal,” which follows a family that has long sought safety in the desert, led by Liyam (Ibrahim Al-Hasawi), a patriarch carrying on a Bedouin tradition by living at a remove from civilization.

While the nomadic clan has picked up and moved at their leisure in the past, this provocative drama unfolds at a time when there’s no running from the future or from one another. “Hobal” is set in the Middle East six months ahead of the Gulf War in 1990, but it’s telling that a breaking news alert regarding the impending violence barely registers on the radio carried by Battal (Hamdy Alfridi), one of Liyam’s sons, hard-pressed to find a signal in the middle of nowhere.

When Rifa (Amal Sami), a teenage member of the family, has come down with measles, reports of armed conflict pale in comparison to the battle brewing within the family about a potential trip to Kuwait.

Liyam resists the idea that treatment can only be found in the city where he’s been led to believe there’s only sin, but he takes her illness as a reason to resettle when coupled with other signs that doomsday is approaching, from the aforementioned drumbeat toward war, the death of his grandchild and the loss of his son Majed, who left behind a young son of his own, Assaf (Hamad Farhan).