Hidalgo is quite enjoyable and entertaining. To western eyes it probably also looks exotic. But take it from a native of Arabia, in terms of authenticity in production design the movie scores a zero. Nothing, and I mean nothing about the costumes, locations, character names or language is authentic. Hollywood likes to shoot in Morocco when the story takes place in a desert and elements of North African culture stick out like sore thumbs all over the movie. The "look" of Hidalgo is a hotchpotch of African and perceived Arabian cultures. The clothes worn by Arab characters have never existed in Arabian history. They look like costumes left over from a Halloween party. The only authentic clothes are Moroccan. But what are Western Sahara horsemen doing in central Arabia? The two regions are thousands of miles apart and the cultural contrast between them is strong. You see one of the actors serving Arabian coffee in the wrong cups and with the left hand. In Arabia you only serve your guests with the right hand unless you mean to insult them. The names of Arab characters are completely wrong for the location or the period; some are not even people names. The Arab characters speak in classical Arabic, the use of which is correct since there is no surviving record of 19th century Central Arabian dialect. The American actors deserve praise for the effort they put in learning their Arabic lines; but why is the man announcing the start of the race Moroccan in appearance and dialect? To be fair, the producers did put some effort to avoid making this a story about an all-conquering white man in the land of the Brown People. The main character is half-native American, a race that enjoys respect in the Arab world. Unusually for Hollywood, most of the Arab characters are not villains or imbeciles. Mercifully, Arabs are not portrayed by painted white actors but by African Americans (Hispanics are also suitable for portraying Arabs). One element of Hidalgo that was authentic is the Arabs love for horses and their pride in them. I managed through the distracting cultural inaccuracies to enjoy the movie by pretending that the story takes place in a fictitious land populated by fictitious people with a fictitious culture, have fictitious names and wear fictitious clothes. Most people will also enjoy Hidalgo. I would simply like them to keep in mind that almost nothing about the Arabia they see in it is authentic.
