Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed) as his sixth governor of Libya, confident that the eminently accredited soldier and fascist Grande can crush the rebellion and restore the dissipated glories of Imperial Rome.

The Italians also committed atrocities - killing of prisoners of war, destruction of crops, and imprisoning populations in concentration camps behind barbed wire.

Despite their bravery, the Libyan Arabs and Berbers suffer heavy losses, because their relatively primitive weaponry is no match for mechanised warfare; despite all this, they continue to fight and manage to keep the Italians from achieving complete victory for 20 years.

In one scene, Al-Mukhtar refuses to kill a defenseless young officer, instead giving him the Italian flag to bring home to Italy.

Mukhtar says that Islam forbids him from killing captured soldiers and demands that he only fight for his homeland, and that Muslims are taught to hate war itself.

His lawyer, Captain Lontano, states that since Mukhtar had never accepted Italian rule, he cannot be tried as a rebel and instead must be treated as a prisoner of war (which would save him from being hanged).

[6] The last act of the government's intervention against the film was on April 7, 1987, in Trento; afterward, MPs from Democrazia Proletaria asked Parliament to show the movie at the Chamber of Deputies.

"[8] The verdict of British historian Alex von Tunzelmann about the movie is: "Omar Mukhtar has been adopted as a figurehead by many Libyan political movements, including both Gaddafi himself and the rebels currently fighting him.

Lion of the Desert is half an hour too long and hammy in places, but its depiction of Italian colonialism and Libyan resistance is broadly accurate.

"[9] Clint Morris describes the movie as: "A grand epic adventure that'll stand as a highpoint in the producing career of Moustapha Akkad.