In Desert And Wilderness

The best movies have the most important and touching themes. The Polish movie W Pustyni I W Puszczy, which translates into In Desert and Wilderness and based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, is a powerful movie that tells the story of two children and their journey across the African grasslands and desserts. In Desert and Wilderness demonstrates the true meaning of courage and friendship through the fight for survival.

“‘Praise Allah,’” yells the leader of a group of blood-thirsty Arabs. After being informed that his wife and children are imprisoned, the Arab leader, Smain, plots to kidnap the children of two engineers that his relative works for. Smain’s relative is instructed to bring the children, Nel and Stas, to the Mahdi rebels so he can get his family back. Smain’s relative, Chamis, betrays the family he works for claiming that, “‘Smain’s blood flows in me.He who betrays his own blood, betrays himself.” Nel and Stas have been kidnapped by a caravan of Arabs while their fathers were busy working on the Suez Canal and are traveling in the center of Africa. By the time they reach a small encampment, Nel and Stas are told that they can convert to Islam in hope that it could spare them. Refusing, Stas risks his and Nel’s life as Nel begins to show early symptoms of malaria. A “friend” in the encampment supplies Stas with quinine, medicine that will help Nel, and instructs the young boy to run away with two slaves as soon as the caravan heads into the desert. When the caravan faces a hungry lion, Stas is handed his rifle so he can kill the beast but quickly decides this is their chance to escape. After killing the lion, Stas turns on the Arabs and fights them off, as Chamis shows his last bit of decency and helps Stas until his death. Scared and lost, Stas and Nel have to continue on into the wilderness with two slaves and battle the desert to survive. Stas, Nel and the slaves face many dangers of the wilderness, including wild animals, disease, Arabs, starvation, dehydration and a wicked African chief. The most important question movie watchers are asking, how will they survive the unforgivable desert?

In Desert and Wilderness presents this story set in the late nineteenth century as a children’s adventure full of obstacles and dangers. In Desert and Wilderness is a Polish film that portrays two children’s struggles to return to their fathers as they journey through the African desert and wilderness. Nel and Stas, no older than twelve and sixteen, face many dangers that most people do not face in a lifetime. When is the last time you heard about two children who were stranded in the African wilds and lived to tell their story? Stas killed men in a skirmish when he received his gun as a Christmas present from his father only days earlier. Young and innocent, Nel never knew death until she witnessed it and barely escaped it herself. Stas and Nel gained much courage throughout the course of their journey. With the help of the slaves, who were familiar with the terrain, the small group played off of one another’s strengths and was able to function like their own microcosm.

Stas and Nel’s companionship with each other and the slaves essentially led to their survival. Stas risked his life wandering into the night-time jungle hoping he could find someone with medicine for Nel. If it were not for his courage and their strong friendship, Nel would not have survived. When the group first ran away from the Arab caravan, one of the slaves said that Stas was a much better master than his old one. Stas replied that he was not his master and they were free. Almost instantly, a sense of friendship formed and the group began to collect food and find shelter. Stas and Nel formed one half of the group while the slaves formed the other. Without Stas’s gun, the group most likely would not have survived the lions. Without the slaves’ familiarity with the terrain, the comradeship would not have survived the first few nights in the wilderness. Each half was equally as important as the other and was essential to everyone’s survival.

Stas, Nel and the slaves survived their time in the wild based upon one another’s talents, their courage and their strong friendship. If the slaves had never come into effect, Stas and Nel would have never survived the first night alone. Likewise, the slaves would not have survived if not for Stas and Nel’s acceptance and understanding. The slaves were a key element in the story’s plot and Stas and Nel’s survival. If things had not played out how they did, Stas and Nel would be dead and the slaves would still bear a life of hardship.
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