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Review #259 of 365
Film: House of Sand (2006) [NR] 115 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.50
Portuguese Title: Casa de Areia
Where Viewed: Landmark Chez Artiste, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 27 September 2006
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Directed by: Andrucha Waddington (Eu Tu Eles)
Screenplay by: Elena Soárez
Story by: Luiz Carlos Barreto, Elena Soárez, and Andrucha Waddington
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station) • Fernanda Torres (Parle-moi d’Amour) • Ruy Guerra (A Queda) • Seu Jorge (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) • Stênio Garcia (Redentor) • Luiz Melodia ("Bang Bang") • Enrique Díaz (Redentor) • Emiliano Queiroz ("Hoje É Dia de Maria") • João Acaiabe ("Sítio do Pica-Pau Amarelo") • Camilla Facundes (cinematic debut)
Film's Website: House of Sand
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Since previews for House of Sand began showing in theatres that promote international and independent films such as Landmark Theatres (click here to see if there is a theatre near you) and it's win of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance 2006, there has been heavy anticipation in the USA for this Brazilian film about the struggle and will to survive set in and filmed entirely in the Lençóis Maranhenses region of Northern Brazil within an environmental conservation area of the State of Maranhão. Gladly, the film does not disappoint. The story, reportedly inspired by a photograph of a house buried in the sands, follows three generations of women who, through highly unfortunate circumstances become stranded in a mostly deserted, remote area of Brazil in the early 1900s when Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) buys the deed to the land and plans to set up his new home there. His pregnant wife, Áurea and mother-in-law, Dona Maria, played by real life mother and daughter Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, are brought along for the 'adventure'. To his credit, Vasco does not know Áurea is pregnant when he makes this decision. Still, he is ill-prepared to handle the harsh conditions of his newly claimed 'paradise' which looks to be a mirage and nearly is. Within weeks of settling, the group of hired help and Vasco's family is confronted by the descendants of African slaves and has to give up rations. Eventually, they become allies and begin trading, but just when things look to be going well for Vasco, Dona Maria bribes a hired hand to help get herself and her daughter out of this harsh land, they wake up to find the hired hands gone along with Dona Maria's money, and all of their livestock and provisions. The ill-tempered Vasco, in trying to prove to his wife and daughter that he can still provide well for them, rattles some of the supports to the new roof of the house he's just completed for them to live in, and the front part comes crashing in on him killing him nearly instantly. So, from that moment on, Dona Maria and Áurea are stranded. Yet, they are incredibly strong women with a tenacious will to survive. Though Áurea does every thing she can to get them out of there, her mother insists they stay put until the baby is born. From there, the story fast forwards to a point where Maria (the child of Vasco and Áurea) is around 10 years old. Literally, they have survived out there with only help from Massu (Seu Jorge) one of the African slave descendants who begins helping them early on during their stay. As the years pass, and it becomes more and more clear they will be literally stuck there forever, the women age, and the actors begin to play multiple roles. So, Frananda Montenegro plays Dona Maria, Áurea when she's older, and then even Maria when she finally gets old enough. The same is true for Fernanda Torres who once her mother takes over her role, she takes over the elder Maria's role. This is fascinating if not at first a tad confusing, because you think you're seeing ghosts, casting. It doubly and triply forces their talents as the story progresses from 1910-the 1960s.
"…a lovely, poetic, mystical film of human endurance and spirit."
The acting, in general, in the film is superb. As for directing, there are some parts where the film seems to drag on a bit too long in a way that does not aesthetically improve nor enhance the quality of the film. Nonetheless, the film impacts in several key ways. At first, there is the shear struggle to survive in such a harsh climate without the benefit of experience. Massu helps at key times by providing food and items for trade. Even so, this is one of the harshest climates on the globe, and simply acquiring food and potable water is an extreme challenge. This, actually, would make a great locale for the next season of "Survivor" especially when you come back from gathering wood and supplies for your shelter only to find your camp now buried under the drifting dunes. Next there is the will to continue to survive despite no obvious hope for returning to civilization as you know it. Both mothers want the best possible lives for their daughters, and both must reconcile their wants, needs, and hopes with the reality of their circumstances. As time progresses, and it seems more and more likely they can survive, it is amazing how the will to escape and return begins to dissipate. It's more than simply accepting it and moving on, it's about truly embracing it, becoming part of it and it becoming part of you. In the first few frames of the film, as the caravan settles and Vasco proclaims they have arrived, practically no place on earth could look or seem less hospitable, habitable, or inviting; and, yet, by the end of the film, the region looks down right beautiful. It's all about perspective and what you know. As we all grow up equating the falling grains of sand as a metaphor for the passing of time in a larger sense, how fitting it is to ponder living in a place where, quite literally, sand is constantly shifting, the terrain you once knew is no more, and the passage of time itself grows increasingly less significant to the degree that you know nothing of what's going on in the outside world anyway. There certainly would be a sense of freedom in that. Finally, Andrucha Waddington knows how to end a film and put a final closure on all the little events that took place. If you don't shed a tear at the end, it won't be for a lack of reasons on screen. House of Sand is a lovely, poetic, mystical film of human endurance and spirit. If you ask yourself "what's this all mean" on the way to the cinema, you can expect to depart with plenty to ponder and a strong realization that it's really the about coming to peace with the struggle to exist.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring House of Sand (2006) Cast Members
Fernanda Montenegro
• Fernanda TorresRuy Guerra
• Seu Jorge • Stênio GarciaLuiz Melodia
• Enrique Díaz • Emiliano QueirozJoão Acaiabe
• Camilla Facundes| VHS | DVD |
House of Sand (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance 2006, House of Sand is the highly anticipated Brazilian film set in and filmed entirely in the desert Lençóis Maranhenses region of Northern Brazil within an environmental conservation area of the State of Maranhão. The story follows three generations of women who, through highly unfortunate circumstances become stranded in a mostly deserted, remote area of Brazil in the early 1900s after Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) buys the deed to the land and plans to set up his new home there. His pregnant wife, Áurea and mother-in-law, Dona Maria, played by real life mother and daughter Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, are brought along for the 'adventure'. Superb acting compensates for some of the slower paced parts of the film which eventually moves beyond the inhospitable and transforms into a lovely and poetic film of human endurance and spirit.
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