Review of Queen of the Desert (2015) by Chynna Raye C — 11 Apr 2017

The entire film could have existed with the first love story and ended with Gertrude traveling to live in the love she lost. The story's purpose lost its path and felt like an endless walk in the desert.

At the start of the film, Gertrude is defined by her intelligence and stubbornness to simply not settle for anything in life. Once in a foreign land she lost that in her curiosity and love for Henry, who truly seemed to be her equal. Once he was lost, the men only treated her as an equal to fall in love with her and she let them. It flawed her character.

The use of time throughout the film was not consistent and the audience was left to create a randomly paced timeline in their head only to be thrown off by the confusing use of both months and dates leaving an unrealistic sense of time. The film does not end back at its flashback of a start to complete the story's circle in order to explain the importance of her journey. Instead Gertrude, in a very classic fashion, rides off into the sunset as the title of the film finally is explained.