The charm stretches but doesn’t break in Lasse Hallström’s odd, gentle comedy about a visionary sheikh (Amr Waked) who devises a dam, river, and salmon in dry, hot Yemen. Caught up in his crazy but moving scheme are two Brit dreamers (Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor). It has some of the old Ealing Studio–grace of loveable silliness, though Kristin Scott Thomas is pushy as a political opportunist. One imagines Lawrence of Arabia looking at this from the desert, rubbing his eyes, and dreaming of a salmon steak. (2012) — David Elliott
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