HAVING recently joined an IT company, Alan Clay has been handed a poisoned chalice. He’s been assigned to debut a new hologram-based mass-communication system on the market in a new metropolis being built for the King of Saudi Arabia in the middle of the desert.

Alan has never been outside continental America. He has no notion of what awaits him. In Dave Eggers’ novel he is the typical American innocent abroad. Tom Hanks plays him with a simplicity evoking Forrest Gump without the intellectual limitations.

Alan has to do more than sell the company’s product. He must pass Survival 101 in a social and cultural environment that’s half a world away, perhaps even further, from his life’s experience. Saudi is a royal fief. The king has first, intermediate and final say about everything that touches on economic matters. Not even the king’s closest minders know where he will be or when he’ll be there.

You might expect a film dealing with an American dealing with matters of this kind to be all Stars and Stripes Forever, God Bless America and similar patriotic themes. But Tom Tykwer, who adapted the novel and directed the film, is German. His film has annoyed many Americans. Some might consider that A Good Thing, without promoting Saudi as a delicious tourist destination with a full array of home comforts.

At Palace Electric