Sand Castle

'SAND CASTLE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A war drama about a US Army rifleman, and his squad, who are trying to restore water to a dangerous Iraqi village. It's based on the real life experiences of it's screenwriter, Chris Roessner, and the script was featured on the 2012 Black List of unproduced screenplays. The film was directed by Fernando Coimbra, and it stars Nicholas Hoult, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Cavill, Glen Powell, Tommy Flanagan, Beau Knapp and Neil Brown Jr.. It was released by Netflix through it's streaming site, and it's gotten mixed reviews from critics. I found it to be mostly well made, and somewhat effective, but it would have been a lot better with a little more character development.

Private Matt Ocre (Hoult) is a young rifleman in the US Army, who enlisted (in 2001) in order to get financial aid for college. When the Iraq war starts (in 2003) he desperately wants to quit though. He slams the door of a Humvee on his hand, in an attempt to get sent home even. His efforts don't succeed, and he's instead sent to Baqubah, with his squad, to repair a broken water system there. Many of the locals don't want their help though, and Matt has to witness multiple casualties to his unit. This causes him great depression and frustration, naturally.

The movie has all the makings of a good war film, it's well cast (Hoult, Marshall-Green and Cavill are all good in their roles) and it's nicely directed. It has well shot action scenes too, and seemingly effective emotional drama. I didn't know enough about the characters though, to really care for what they were going through. Technically the movie appears really well made, but it's just lacking enough character development to make it really effective.

The story was an accurate portrayal of the environment and the people in the conflict zones. It was based on the true events of the film's writer. Nicholas Hoult did a good job. I saw it as minimalist. He spared us the over dramatic self reflection/moral dilemma that is too common in writing or film. I thought throughout the movie that it sure looks like Iraq; it was filmed in Jordan. The areas I were in looked like images from the Mars Pathfinder. There were rocks, clay, sand and more rocks. During the winter, it was mostly orange. This is not a Hollywood retread or an action film. I'm glad that they had no flashbacks/flash forwards to home/U.S. Coming home and life after is a different story. The music score was subtle and the end title was really good. Similar to Brian Eno. Great to see another quality Netflix original.

This film tells the story of a young soldier in Kuwait, who is reluctantly being sent to Iraq to help fix the water supply system in a village. However, their help is not welcomed by the village, and they are mey with multiple hostile attacks.

"Sand Castle" has a simple but effective plot, where the soldiers have to do everything in their power to fix the water supply that got broken in the war. A seemingly simple task becomes very complicated when the locals are actively resisting and even sabotaging the operation. It can be plainly seen that, what seems to be a good will mission from one side is interpreted as an unwelcomed act by the other side. I think this unwelcomed good will mission can be extrapolated to the whole war, and this particular mission is a microcosm of the whole Iraq war. It leaves soldiers wounded physically and psychologically, especially when soldiers think they are doing good.

Sand Castle will likely resonate with general audiences. The acting in it is good for the most part, as Nick Hoult pulls of his part very well. His acting is pretty spot on and the story telling around his character is well done. Logan Marshal-Green did a superb job in his role as a get-it-done SSG who reminded me of a couple different platoon sergeants I'd worked with while in Baghdad. The story itself is fine, and even though the outcome was predictable, I didn't stop rooting for the guys to get it done. Where the movie fell short for me was in the details. Coimbra should have hired a decent military adviser to help him out. A good example is found within the first few seconds of the movie, as Hoult's character strolls to a great tune by Queens of the Stone Age through a staging area in Kuwait (camp New York?) he walks past some tanks that are being readied for combat. M60 tanks. I kid you not. As an M1A1 Tanker myself, I knew at this point there were going to be some obvious flaws-and there are quite a few others-but they didn't really detract from the story. I'd probably recommend this movie to others for the story alone. If you are former military, just know what you are in for.

I don't know what the budget for this film was but I doubt that it was huge. Even so this is an excellent film about men and war and the aftermath of their actions. Although there is a some conventional war film action this is generally a well-paced, slow moving film which might not appeal to viewers hoping for non-stop action.The characters are well drawn and the acting is first rate. Hoult, in particular, is excellent but Cavill, as well, is fine. There is a little of the usual American gung-ho moments but these are timed and acted well so they help to define the characters rather than simplify them. It's not a preachy film about rights and wrongs and the Iraqis are, the limited fight scenes aside, portrayed as people under duress attempting to continue their lives as best they can. Overall a very good, thoughtful film.