Tempête de sable

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.

Most people are disappointed with the movie , may be because they rather expected a drama with plot twists. But in real life you don't get too many. That's why this movie is different. The mother and the girl was excellent.

Amazing film. Moving. The mother-daughter relationship was profound.

The film follows the struggle of a young Bedouin girl and her will to be free of old traditions that try to keep her caged in a man's world. The main plot follows Jalila (Ruba Blal-Asfour), the first wife of a man that is trapped under the pressure of having a new young wife join the clan. Her daughter, Layla (Lamis Ammar), has a secret lover at school, and Jalila must decide if she is part of the mechanism that will trap her daughter too or going to fight for the next generation to have more than she could ever dream of. The brave directing and storytelling brings to the screen a complex story, exhibiting female struggles from a very specific perspective yet in a very universal way. It is not by chance that the film has had such a successful festival circuit.

Ever so subtly like a friend pulling your arm gently, this film pulls your into the world of women and how suffocating it is for them. Across nearly four generations. With the fourth one standing at the window of womanhood but not there yet. It will tell you how their voices are muted, how their choices are compromised, how emotions, feelings, their conscience, society, reputation are all used against them. The mother is the best actor I've seen in a Long time on screen. The amount of pain, frustration, anguish she conveys with so much subtlety is mind numbing. The Daughter was stellar too. Sumbolism and metaphor used time and again in the form of tunnels, windows, make up, weddings as a societal device. Gorgeous film. One of the best I've seen offlate. Kudos to the filmmaker, the crew and the actors. Phenomenal.