Well, thanks to divine Amazon, the DVD arrived and I watched the film this evening; some interesting bits and lovely to see Bowles himself in it; plus some great shots of Tangiers 20 years ago.
I was not however convinced.

Bertolucci clearly fell in love with North Africa and showed some great scenes of it but the story is lacking in plot (having read The Spider's House I can understand that - Bowles is a story teller not keen on plot in the acceptable filmic way).

Delighted to have seen it though.

Still a huge inquisitive about Bowles.