Alternate Best Actor 1980: Anthony Quinn in Lion of the Desert

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Anthony Quinn did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Omar al-Mukhtar in Lion of the Desert. 

Lion of the Desert is one of only twoish (ish because he really made three films, but two were the same film in a different language with different actors) films by Moustapha Akkad, a man otherwise known only really for being an executive producer of the Halloween franchise. So a classic "huh?" Hollywood story to be sure. Made all the more confusing given this film is a  good, though not great (needed more detail to the supporting characters like a greater Arab war film), epic about Libyan struggle against fascist Italy.

Anthony Quinn stars here in a role that is actually familiar, in some ways, to another turn by Quinn in that other epic, the greater, Lawrence of Arabia. Although both films have Quinn playing Arab leaders attempting to take care of his people. The comparisons stop there though as in "Arabia" he played a loud boisterous and vibrant man, here he plays a quiet dignified one. This as we see him his first scene attending to the people listening to a religious sermon. Quinn speaks in the moment of the man's own views with a quiet grace and care for each word. There is a gentleness within Quinn's delivery and he immediately grants you a sense of his al-Mukhtar as a caring and generous leader. Quinn always has a powerful presence as an actor, and dominating one to be sure, however here he uses that initially more passively. This creating just a sense of the presence of the man but defined by an ease among his people. He is not trying to dominant them he is trying to be with them. This is our starting point as the Italian fascists, with the campaign lead by General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed), attempt to take over Libya with al-Mukhtaras the man seeming to stand in his way. 

 

Quinn has a great scene once the campaign starts where he uncovers the massacre of his people. Quinn's reaction is deeply affecting here as there is so much empathy within his expression. It is a beautifully tender work in the moment as you feel the weight of the deaths upon his brow and you see that there is nothing more personal than the loss of his people. As he expresses the nature of such brutality, Quinn creates the sense of such a powerful humanity that defines the man. In battle Quinn is interesting in that he doesn't portray some sort of ferocity. There is instead a certain sense of weight within the battle on the man, and a care even then. This in showing the man very much caring more of the meaning of the fight, then at all caring about any glory within the fight. Quinn suggesting a man whose leadership in battle is due to a sense of duty than anything at all personal. This is emphasized so well by an early scene where he attends a failed negotiation with the Italians. Quinn speaking with quiet strength in setting his stakes within the moment. His raising of his vice something so naturally earned as attached to the passion for the rights of his people. 

The negotiation scene is wholly wonderful for Quinn, as he uses every reaction so well. This as there is hearing every word with a careful consideration, and always that sense of a moral sense of what every suggestion is attached to. When he speaks of Graziani, figuring out the Italians plot to delay him, Quinn's delivery is great because he approaches it with a quiet certainty and dismissiveness towards the questionable men he was speaking to. Quinn's screentime is relatively limited, for a leading performance, because the film gives keen focus to the battle scenes, but everyone of his scenes punctuates the film with a necessary power. A later moment is another terrific one where al-Mukhtar explains his position to his fellow Arabs who have surrendered. Quinn's resolute passion is remarkable by how low key yet potent it is. This in his explanation of the betrayal of the surrender given the force they are facing. Quinn once again finding the power in the certainty of the man's words and in his delivery finding a man who earnestly knows the righteousness of his fight therefore cannot be easily deterred even by the true hardships that result from his resolution. 

I think the key to Quinn's performance here actually is how he doesn't try to make al-Mukhtar any sort of supreme leader or some truly extraordinary man in this war. He rather expresses him as a man caring for his people and always burdened by the war he is taking on. In the later war scenes, as the situation gets more dire, he doesn't depict it with a calm resolve. There is the sense in Quinn's eyes of every loss, and the real anxiety of the situation. He doesn't show the man weakening truly, but still shows the effort al-Mukhtar needs to make to continue his fight at every point. Just the brief moments of a real sadness at seeing the death of his men are truly moving as again Quinn presents the innate decency of the cause in such an honest approach. Quinn's performance accentuates a kind of directness that works particularly well for the role given we don't dive too deeply beyond a certain point here. We get more so the generalizations than some of the more detailed specifics within the characters, something that again made Lawrence a great film. Quinn's work though does make up for this limitation to a degree by creating the right nuance within the depiction of a man standing up for what he believes to the very end. This as even with his final confrontation with Graziani, Quinn, who certainly never hesitates to go big when he sees fit, takes a simple yet effective approach. This in creating a dignified portrait of al-Mukhtar as a leader who states his position, and lives with it. His ease with it, being an expression of  the man wholly seeing his stance as an absolute truth.

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