Review: House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Dragan Antulov
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2005
It is estimated that average American changes home at least three times during
his lifetime. Under such circumstances it is difficult to imagine people
getting emotionally attached to real estate, at least not in a way people in
Old World do. Since "moving to the greener pastures" is one of the important
elements of American Dream, Americans tend to see fights over tiny pieces of
land as something than happens only to savage Balkans tribes of gangs in
inner-city ghettos. They might change their mind if they see HOUSE OF SAND AND
FOG, 2003 drama directed by Vadim Perelman.
The plot, based on the best-selling novel by Andre Dubus III, starts with Kathy
Nicolo (played by Jennifer Connelly), recovering alcoholic whose husband left
her eight months ago. Because of that she was so depressed that she didn't open
her mail, and when the tax authorities evict her from her Northern California
bungalow over unpaid taxes, it is too late to do anything about. That bungalow
is auction and later bought at bargain prices by Bahrani (played by Ben
Kingsley), former Iranian Air Force Colonel exiled to America after Islamic
Revolution. For years he had to work all kinds of menial jobs in order to
support his aristocratic wife Nadi (played by Shoreh Aghdashloo) and provide
façade of respectability within his community. His plan is to sell the bungalow
at full market price and thus regain wealth and respect he once had. But Kathy,
now forced to sleep in her car, wants her house back and her, apparently
hopeless, cause is taken by Lester Burdon (played by Ron Eldard), Sheriff's
Deputy who fell madly in love and her. Lester will stop at nothing to get Kathy
back in the house, even if it means breaking the very law he is supposed to
protect. But Bahrani is equally determined to protect his new treasure and all
the conflict escalates until tragedy becomes unavoidable.
There are few films that depend so much on acting as HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
does. First time director Vadim Perelman did very good job and had excellent
collaborators in veteran composer James Horner and veteran cinematographer
Roger Deakins. But the real treasure of this film can be found in actors.
Shoreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress who had to quit her career because of
Islamic Revolution, brings a lot of her own experience to the role and makes
the character of Nadi, seemingly the least important of them all, into one of
one the most memorable. Her "Oscar" nomination for that role was quite
justified. Her efforts were well-matched by two previous "Oscar" winners in the
roles of main adversaries. Jennifer Connelly tries very hard and mostly succeeds
in making blue-collar heroine likeable to the audience despite most of them not
being sympathetic to her lost (and ultimately unjust) cause. Kingsley is even
more effective in the role that requires him to switch between family tyrant,
loving father and husband, hard-working immigrant, social hypocrite and
pathetic wreck.
Great acting aside, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG is very good, but not great film.
While the plot rested on sound foundations of gritty realism, its tragic
resolution depends too much on the all-too-convenient twists and characters
acting in the most stupid ways imaginable. But the biggest problem is in its
lack of the very objectivity Perelman tried to achieve. Through suggestive
editing Perelman tries to paint Kathy and Bahrani as two sides of the same
coins - two people who try to pursue the very same American Dream and who lay
the very same claim on life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately,
it isn't very hard for the audience to completely take the side of Bahrani. On
one side there is a dedicated family man who endured the lifetime of hardship
and humiliation in order to provide decent future for his loved ones. On the
other side is someone who wasted her life through addiction and self- pity. For
overwhelming majority of the audience taking sides among two main protagonists
isn't the much of a choice.
There are some critics who view HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG as a some sort of
allegoric comment on recent events. Scenes in which Bahranis - Middle Eastern
immigrants - are mistreated by Lester - representative of American law
enforcement - can be put in the context of the abuses in Guantanamo Bay and Abu
Ghraib. The scene at the very beginning, when Kathy wakes up only to find her
house put on auction, shows the shock very much like the one experienced by USA
on September 11th
2001 - when the country, which had taken its liberal democracy, security and
prosperity for granted, had her illusions shattered in one terrifying instant.
Others see the unfolding tragedy of HOUSE OF SAND A FOG as a story of
misunderstanding - Kathy and Lester repeatedly fail to interpret Bahranis in
proper way, especially Lester who uses racists "towel head" stereotypes to
conform to his personal illusions. But misunderstanding isn't limited to great
unwashed masses. This could also be interpreted as a criticism of American
Left, especially Limousine Liberals who seems to be equally detached from
reality as blue-collar crypto-racists. In a brief, but brilliant scene, Bahrani
visits the office of Kathy's idealistic lawyer and can't fail to notice a Soviet
WW2 mobilisation poster accompanied with the words praising the concept of
revolution as something "cool" and "hip". With Bahrani and his disdain for the
poster can identify anyone whose experiences don't allow taking liberal
democracy for granted nor understanding of its alternatives, regardless how
fashionable they might look.
Even with contemporary politics put aside and with many of its flaws taken into
account, HOUSE OF SAND A FOG is an intense, thought- provoking movie
experience.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Review written on February 12th 2005
--
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com
Movie Reviews in Croatian/Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom
http://draxreview.blogspot.com Draxblog Movie Reviews
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