the lion of the desert

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Lion of the Desert

The 1981 film , The Lion of the Desert starring Anthony Quinn and Oliver Reed is based on the true to life story of Omar Mukhtar (1862-1931 , a Libyan Arab rebel who led his people in resisting the colonial rule of Italy in Libya for over 20 years . In 1911 , Italy colonized Libya and made it part of their empire

Mukhtar (played by Quinn ) was a teacher of Koran in his village . Once the Italians invaded and conquered their land , he led

his village in revolt against the Italians . He could not accept the conditions imposed on them , particularly to him since they had difficulty defeating him He said to them , we will stay with you till your end (Akkad Despite not having military experience , he proved to be a capable leader and was very clever , having outwitted five Italian military governors who tried to defeat him . Seeing the difficulty of defeating Mukhtar Italian dictator Benito Mussolini appointed General Rodolfo Graziani (played by Reed ) as the new governor of Libya and bring down Mukhtar Realizing Mukhtar 's capabilities , Graziani grudgingly admired his skills when he said , He 's good (Akkad . This led Graziani to try a different tactic where he resorted to reconcentration of villagers in camps to deny Mukhtar and his band aid and made use of tanks and aircraft to defeat Mukhtar until he was finally captured . He was tried convicted and hanged in 1931 at the age of 70

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