There is a bitter irony at the heart of Abdulaziz Alshlahei’s dynamic third feature “Hobal,” which follows a family that has long sought safety in the desert, led by Liyam (Ibrahim Al-Hasawi), a patriarch carrying on a Bedouin tradition by living at a remove from civilization. While the nomadic clan has picked up and moved at their leisure in the past, this provocative drama unfolds at a time when there’s no running from the future or from one another.
“Hobal” is set in the Middle East six months ahead of the Gulf War in 1990, but it’s telling that a breaking news alert regarding the impending violence barely registers
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