Three Kings — On a realisation path

Set in March 1991, in the Iraqi desert, at the end of the Gulf War, ThreeKings is about a small group of American soldiers, who are determ...

Set in March 1991, in the Iraqi desert, at the end of the Gulf War, ThreeKings is about a small group of American soldiers, who are determined tosteal a huge cache of gold, reputed to be hidden somewhere near the desertbase. The soldiers get hold of a map they believe will take them to thegold, but when they embark on a journey, it leads to unexpected discoveries,which drastically changes their lives.

George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze play the Americansoldiers, who have spent weeks in the base camp, while the Persian Gulf waris fought by high-tech specialists. The impersonality of the war has leftthem bored, and after the cease-fire, they are looking forward to leavingthe desert, when they land the map. The treasure-hunt leads them into Iraqiterritory, where they see the complex circumstances of life, in a country atwar itself. The four soldiers’ mission then changes radically, becoming ajourney of discovery and redemption.

Director David O Russell spent 18 months researching the Gulf War and itsaftermath, before writing the film, so that he had a complete understandingof the historical landscape. Says Russell, "When I started investigating thewar, I only knew the official story – that we went to the Middle East andkicked Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. But when I looked at it more closely, Isaw that Hussein was left in power and George Bush encouraged the Iraqicivilians to rise up against Hussein and said, `We’ll help you do it’. Andthe people did rise up, and we didn’t support them…and they got massacredby their own army."

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Russell thought this would make for an interesting backdrop for a storyabout a band of soldiers, who go into the surreal, corrupted Iraqiatmosphere after the war. "The soldiers think Iraq is littered with the cellphones, luxury cars and booty stoeln from rich Kuwait, and they want tosteal something for themselves. But they suddenly find a situation thatcompletely confronts their humanity and demands that they re-think what theyare doing," the director explains.

The story could have been told strictly as an action-adventure, but Russellturned it into a dramatic story with a lot of action, and a tremendousamount of comedy.

George Clooney, who plays Captain Archie Gates in the film, was deeplyimpressed by the role, of a cynical career soldier getting ready to retire.Talking about his role he says, "The film was so different and so smart. Ithad elements of great films like Lawrence Of Arabia and Schindler’s List,because in all these films, you start out doing something for mercenaryreasons and personal gain, and eventually you do what’s right." The directorwas keen that Mark Wahlberg play the part of Troy, the family man of thetroop. Troy is a working-class guy from Detroit who has a wife and daughterwaiting for him back home. Wahlberg says that he was attracted to the scriptbecause it was about "ordinary guys, not Rambo types. He elaborates, "Theyhave to make choices about what’s really right and what’s really wrong, theyhave to rise to the occasion in an imperfect world." Renowned rap artist IceCube was selected to play the spiritual character of `Chief’ because, as thedirector puts it, "Cube is a very intense guy, but he’s also got a goodheart, and I thought it would be great to show this side of him."