Le Chant du Hoggar review: Camels, rocks, and 1930s desert romance

Should you watch this obscure 1930 French docu-drama? Honestly, only if you are obsessed with old desert travelogues or want to see what people thought "real life" looked like back then.

If you want a fast story, you'll absolutely hate it. But if you like staring at rocks and camels, it's kinda cool. 🐪

The whole thing is directed by Pierre Ichac, who apparently spent six months driving around the Hoggar mountains in a tiny car and riding camels. He shot thousands of meters of film, and you can really feel how dusty he must of been.

The "plot" is basically a Romeo and Juliet story but with Tuareg nomads. We have Fatimata, who has some nice goats, and this guy called "The Lion" from another tribe.

The Lion is supposed to be this fierce warrior, but mostly he just looks like a guy trying really hard to look cool for the camera. At one point, he carves her name on a rock, and the camera zooms in so slow it makes you laugh. 🪨

It's like, look at this rock writing, it is very romantic!

I kept thinking about how they made this. It's a "fictionalized documentary," which is a fancy way of saying they made the locals act out a soap opera.

It reminded me of other weird early movies that blended fake stuff with real people, like how Ingagi lied to everyone, though this French one feels much more respectful.

There is a scene where a camel look directly into the lens for a solid ten seconds. Honestly, that camel gave a better performance than half the actual actors in Le Chant du Hoggar.

A few random things I noticed:

• That one camel has a very judgy face.
• The car looks like it belongs in a museum, which I guess it does now.
• Rock carving takes way longer than you think.

The mountains themselves are the real star here. The rocks look so sharp and dry, you almost want to reach for a glass of water while watching.

You can tell Ichac was super proud of his car too. There are a couple of shots where the vehicle just sit in the background of a beautiful valley like a proud little metal bug.

It gets a bit draggy in the middle when they just walk around. Like, okay, we get it, the desert is big and hot.

But then there's a shot of the campfires at night that is surprisingly cozy. It makes you wish you could have been there, minus the lack of modern plumbing.

Don't expect some grand masterpiece of cinema. It's just a very old, very dusty home movie with a thin love story strapped on top.

But for a rainy Sunday when you have nothing else to do, it's a neat little window into a world that doesn't exist anymore.