Sandsturm

Sand Storm may not be a masterpiece of world cinema. Perhaps more distinctive art films claim their place on that stage. This movie takes a naturalistic approach to its story, depicting development in a straightforward way without auteur splashes. It offers a big dose of realism about a tough subject and tough circumstances. Perhaps that doesn't appeal to a more casual audience.

But this is absolutely a perfect movie. How is it perfect? First of all, every moment, every scene, every line of dialogue propels the story forward in a meaningful, forceful, convincing, and deeply human way. Deeply human? Yes. The characters are thoroughly human and complex, fully imagined and developed, both in the writing and the excellent performances. The story itself is constructed in a highly economical, brilliant way. For example, the reversal in dynamism between 'stern mother' and 'indulgent father' is not only interesting in terms of development; those shifts are utterly convincing as they arise organically from dynamics internal to the story and to the (highly difficult) circumstances each character finds her or himself in. It's impressive to witness the artistry of these shifts, how well though out, convincing, and how inspired it all is. The major characters are all in deep conflict with each other, and enough is given to us to understand and sympathize with each of their positions. That's uncommon in stories, in any story, whether novels or movies. This is an admirable achievement.

The climactic moment, the moment of momentous decision for the daughter Layla, this is fantastic: she drives the family truck as her means of breaking away from her father's demands, but it is precisely in driving this truck where we first saw how her father fostered her independence and self-sufficiency in ways unseemly for a young woman in their village society. The 'vehicle' by which he helped give her independence of spirit is the very vehicle by which she flees his (or his society's) oppression. Wow.

While it's not showy, it's a deeply inspired film, full of artistry and moving, human meaning.

Sufat Chol (2016) is an Israeli movie that was shown in the U.S. with the title Sand Storm. It was written and directed by Elite Zexer.

The film takes place in an area of Israel where the Bedouins live. (Truth in reviewing--I didn't know there were Bedouins in Israel. However, they make up 3.5% of the population.) The film is in Arabic, and no Jewish Israelis appear in it. There is one mention of houses being bulldozed, but that's the only sense that there's a majority population outside the village.

Lamis Ammar plays Layla, a intelligent young woman, who is in love with "someone from a different tribe." That's not OK.

Ruba Blal portrays Jalila, Layla's mother. Hitham Omari is Suliman, Layla's father and Jalila's husband.

Matters are a little confusing in the beginning, as a pickup truck arrives at a home. The load in the pickup truck is a new bed. It signals to us that Suliman has taken a second wife. The bed is their wedding bed.

We know that, for Muslims, having more than one wife is normative. However, as the plot develops, it's clear that other matters that are considered normative appear unacceptable by our standards.

In fact, the rules and restrictions of the village appeared medieval to me. I considered whether this was an Israeli propaganda film, showing to the world how primitive the Bedouins are. However, a close friend, who is knowledgeable about these matters, assured me that this is the reality of Bedouin life in Israel.

The restrictions the mother and daughter face are disturbing and grim. However, that's what makes up the plot of the film.

This movie worked well on the small screen. It has an anemic IMDb rating of 6.8. I wondered why this important movie had such a low rating. When I checked the demographics it became clearer. Men rated it 6.7, while females rated it 7.0. (As usual, male raters outnumbered female raters. In this case, it was two to one.)

I think even 7.0 is too low for this movie. I rated it 9.

I was vising my family in Israel and took advantage of the opportunity to watch this movie with friends. I prepared myself for a hard political movie, as some of the media said it was but found myself watching a beautiful non-political universal movie. Sure it is still a hard movie with an educational and sad message but it is a must see movie. We were 4 people and all of us were speechless in the end. Maybe as an Israeli with previous knowledge I had more insights and could understand this movie in several other levels but that doesn't mean that this is a great movie. Great job to all the cast and I hope it will succeed not only in the theaters across the world but may also be nominated for the Oscar this year. The cast and the story deserves it.

I really enjoyed this very well made film. The actors did a great job portraying the characters. The main character, Layla, will stay in my thoughts for a long time. Very sad how narrow many women's lives are and how few choices they have. Watched on NF and thought I was watching episode 1 of a series so disappointed that the story is finished but the movie says it all really and the ending was not disappointing.

Perhaps I have to reevaluate my ingrained trust with 7 stars rating as a metric of quality, with this at 6.8 I didn't expect so high. I anticipated it to be a stereotypical, politically charged Arab's crude conservatism imagery that detach, delineate you to side clearly off the black and white character (as in social value metric not typical good and bad). Unexpectedly, it unpacks humanely with a blend of conflicting contradiction in the character far from being one dimensional, inhibited by consequence we have no clear insight about but hinted. Someone or thing is either way at stake. The father fosters a certain privilege to his daughter but hypocrite through indirect treatment to his first wife, yet you still pity him for whatever it is that inhibit him. Her mom, uptight and resentful turns out protecting her for an option her daughter deserves, more so than the more liberal father.

Halfway through I found it well put and anticipated a disappointing turn that justifies the below 7 rating. There was none. The ending is not as justly suited to what her strong personality suggested to be, by (spoiler) having her bent to tradition eventually (but well, this is real life). She remained guarded unmannerly at the end. The new husband's hint of submissive reaction draws him less of a typical antagonist. Made you think that fairness aside, it has yet been proven to be dramatically a whole lot of wrong turn, just like real life: some options might be not entirely bad but not wanting it in the first place compromised some degree of unsatisfactory or happiness.