Sahara
ELEVEN, 8.30pm, M (2005)
In a glossy adaptation of Clive Cussler’s novel, a suitably buff Matthew McConaughey plays treasure hunter Dirk Pitt – a kind of low-rent Indiana Jones – who, aided by a faithful sidekick (Steve Zahn) with a quip for every occasion and a sultry World Health Organization doctor (Penélope Cruz), sets out to unearth a lost battleship from the American Civil War, supposedly located in North Africa – Mali to be precise. The search heats up when the three stumble on a mysterious plague, leading them to uncover the scheming of a power-mad dictator (Lennie James) and his less-than-sanitary methods of disposing of nuclear waste.