Synopsis
المخدوعون
The film follows three Palestinian refugees brought together by dispossession and hope for a better future. Hiding in the tank of a truck, the men attempt to make their way across the border into Kuwait, the "promised land." A masterful adaptation of Ghassan Kanafani's novel Men Under the Sun, The Dupes is also one of the first Arab films to address the Palestinian predicament.
The 1970s Other Asia Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1970s in Other Asia, 17 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Dupes premiered alongside 2 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 2 other Other Asia films in 1973.
The 25th Other Asia title from Other Asia we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1949).
Our Other Asia catalog contains 547 titles in total (522 films).
Audience Engagement
16 audience reviews — more than 47% of Other Asia films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 10th percentile among Other Asia films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The Dupes, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- tanker · 1
- heat · 1
- escape · 22
- desert · 9
- based on novel or book · 288
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #170 of 547 Other Asia films indexed here (69th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.5 points above the Other Asia average of 6.6/10.
Among Other Asia Drama productions specifically: #127 of 356 (top 36%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Other Asia |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Syrian Arab Republic |
| Original Language | Arabic |
| Production Companies | National Film Organization |
| Runtime | 1h 47m |
| Release Date | July 1, 1973 |
| IMDb | tt0068899 |