Movies where it’s revealed that the entire plot was happening in the protagonist’s head the whole time can either be very accurate or not. Yes, yes, I know that Albus Dumbledore told Harry Potter that even though their conversation was happening in the latter’s head, that didn’t make it any less real. However, using that as a plot twist always makes the whole exercise a little cheap, and the only way to avoid that feeling is to suck the audience into the narrative to such an extent that the last-minute attempt to recontextualize events doesn’t even matter.
For example, there’s The Wizard of Oz, which is such a magical movie that the knowledge that it was all a dream is almost irrelevant. Stay, Ghost Stories, Donnie Darko, and Identity all make more sense when you find out that it was all imagined by someone. The same can be said for The Lighthouse and Shutter Island. In the case of Pan’s Labyrinth, every element of that magical world takes on a touch of melancholy when you understand what’s going on. The Sand Castle is one of those sad cases where nothing about the plot or plot twist works, which is sad, because it's an important film in other ways.
Director: Matty Brown
Writers: Matty Brown, Hend Fakhroo, Yassmina Karajah
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Riman Al Rafeea
Matty Brown's The Sand Castle, which he co-wrote with Hend Fakhroo and Yassmina Karajah, tells the story of a family of four who are stranded on a small island with only a lighthouse and a sort of observation tower. Yasmine, the mother; Nabil, the father; Adam, the son; and Jana, the daughter, live off the food and fresh water available on the land mass or in the ocean around them. But those resources are scarce, and it's only a matter of time before they start starving and suffering from dehydration.
They have a radio communication device and the lamp atop the lighthouse to warn anyone passing by to get them out of there. However, with every passing second, new questions arise. For starters, why is this family on this island? What are they running from, and where are they going? Who built this lighthouse, with some kind of generator, in the middle of nowhere? If there is no fuel source, what is this generator running on? Is there really a monster roaming around the island, as Jana claims? And sooner rather than later, it becomes clear that this is all a figment of someone’s imagination.
I want to make it very clear that by criticizing The Sand Castle I am not downplaying the very real problems that war victims continue to face. Privileged people like us kept saying that the COVID-19 pandemic was the ultimate equalizer, but there were many countries that were giving minorities hell even during that period. As fear of the virus was at its peak, it was impossible for authorities who had the ability to provide shelter to do so without appearing insensitive and harsh because they didn’t know whether they should prioritize these refugees over their own countrymen.
If you look at the same situation from the refugees’ perspective, it all becomes even more heartbreaking. And the fact that all the powerful organizations in the world are unable to establish an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, despite having more money and influence than you and I can possibly imagine, is despicable. Now when I say that the combined efforts of Brown, Fakhroo, and Karajah to shed light on this undeniable aspect of the reality we live in are absolutely rubbish, that is a criticism of the film, not of the crisis the screenwriters are trying to address.
I can understand what Matty Brown was going for in The Sand Castle. He wanted to provoke feelings of mystery, suspense, intrigue, drama, and maybe some fear of the supernatural to distract the audience from the final revelation. But I guess he was limited by budget or his imagination, and the only feeling he managed to evoke was boredom. Or maybe he was under the impression that if he took too many risks and went overboard with his imagery, the seriousness of the overall message would be lost.
Whatever the case may have been, Brown's lack of confidence in the narrative tools he had in his arsenal was palpable, and it was the main reason why the overall viewing experience was so dull and sleepy. There was a point in the film where I thought I was going to enter Lost territory with the yellow object Jana found and the tornado inside the lighthouse. For a brief moment, Brown had my attention, and then the rest of the film happened and I was completely lost. The cinematography, editing, production design, set design, and every other technical aspect of the project was fine; they did a good job with everything they had at their disposal.
I have no real complaints about the cast of The Sand Castle. Nadine Labaki is good in the role of Yasmine. She is made to look exasperated by the fact that she is not a good character, and she is made to look like she is a bad character.
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