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Starring Ben Daniels, et al. As a general rule of thumb, I try to avoid any and all films in which the word 'passion' is mentioned in the trailer. In a nutshell, passion sucks. If a marketing department has stellar acting performances, a cutting edge style of direction, or exploding busses to fall back on, those are the things highlighted in the movie's trailer. However, should a film lack these elements, passion is the emotion of choice used to describe the on-screen action; witty and clever is how one would describe The Usual Suspects, passionate is how one would describe the latest British snooze-fest starring Helena Bonham-Carter. Lavinia Currier's debut film, Passion in the Desert is the exception to this rule; tight and dramatically shot with a script that delves into the true nature of who man is, Currier defiantly bucks the 'passionate' trend.British born actor Ben Daniels stars as Augustin Robert, an officer of Napoleon's army in Egypt who is separated from his regiment during a sandstorm. Alone in the Sahara, Robert is startled to learn that, even with a compass, it isn't an easy task to find your way out of the desert. After stumbling onto a bedouin community and offending the locals by removing the veil from the face of a virgin, Robert is chased into the mountains of the area where he is left for dead, to be killed by the leopard that dwells in said cliffs. Instead of being attacked by the leopard though, Robert forms an admittedly unorthodox relationship with the cat. Adapted from Honore de Balzac's 19th century novella, "A Passion in the Desert", Currier's first film doesn't exactly fall in line with your run-of-the-mill Farrelly brothers or Bryan Singer directorial debuts. With, essentially, an animal lead, and principle photography that spanned two years, Passion in the Desert was anything but an easy movie to create. However, the large amount of work Currier and her crew put into this film is quite obvious in the final product. Shot in Egypt and Jordan, Currier and her animal trainers actually raised baby leopards in the presence of Daniels so as to acclimate both parties to one another, creating a chemistry between principles unrivaled in Hollywood. What intrigued me the most about this film was the way in which Currier investigated the human condition and how a human would adapt to living without contact with others. As Passion in the Desert opened, we were introduced to the character of Robert, proud and vain, Robert was dressed in his French colors, despite the desert heat and ferocious sun rays. After being separated from his fellow soldiers though, Robert discards his clothes piece by piece, ultimately deciding to paint spots on his naked body in order to look more like the one living creature he interacts with on a regular basis, Simoon, the leopard. Whether one chooses to interpret this as Currier and de Balzac's notion that man must strive to fit in, regardless of the situation, or as Currier's investigation of one man's journey into the deepest, darkest regions of his soul, the story gives you pause. Daniels' performance as Robert is astonishing. Comfortable acting opposite humans or animals, Daniels' character is an excellent example of a human pushed to the breaking point and Daniels captures this energy--and frustration--on screen. Small, dark, unassuming, well-written and character driven, Currier's debut is a film that probes into the inner recesses of one's self, examining exactly how close the mind sets between man and animal really are. The antithesis of Armageddon, Passion in the Desert was a most refreshing change of pace.
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