Sand Storm

Name: Sand Storm
Genre: Drama
Released: September 28, 2016
Duration: 87 min
Rating: 74

2016

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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6.2

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6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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Sand Storm

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Movie Details & Credits

Kino Lorber | Release Date: September 28, 2016 | Not Rated

Summary: As wedding festivities get underway in a Bedouin village in Southern Israel, Jalila finds herself in the awkward position of hosting her husband Suliman’s marriage to a second, much younger wife. During the celebration, Jalila stumbles across her eldest daughter Layla’s involvement with a boy from her university—a strictly forbidden liaisonAs wedding festivities get underway in a Bedouin village in Southern Israel, Jalila finds herself in the awkward position of hosting her husband Suliman’s marriage to a second, much younger wife. During the celebration, Jalila stumbles across her eldest daughter Layla’s involvement with a boy from her university—a strictly forbidden liaison that would shame the family. Burying the indignity of Suliman and his new bride living next door, Jalila also tries to contain Layla’s situation by clamping down on her. But Layla sees a different life for herself. [Kino Lorber]… Expand

Director: Elite Zexer

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 87 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Kenneth Turan

Oct 6, 2016

Sand Storm's great gift is that it is human, not didactic, showing not only how difficult this iron web of culture and tradition is to escape from but also how much it poisons the lives of the men who enforce it as much as the women who are victimized by it. Read full review

Bilge Ebiri

Jul 18, 2016

Ultimately, this is a tale of a mother and daughter trapped in a cycle of yearning and despair. It’s a lovely, deeply affecting film. Read full review

Alan Scherstuhl

Sep 28, 2016

In short, Zexer's film — scraped of sentiment but still coursing with feeling — is an ethnographic melodrama, rich in cultural specifics but also universal longings. Read full review

The Playlist Nick Schager

Jul 18, 2016

Though its verité aesthetics are often more serviceable than inspired, and its vague who-what-where-when-why set-up neuters some of its lingering impact, the film’s depiction of entrenched prejudice remains astutely realized. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Sep 27, 2016

As a director, Ms. Zexer has a fine eye for the texture of daily life, which she fills in with resonant physical details and sweeping, scene-setting views. Read full review

David D'Arcy

Jul 18, 2016

Arab critics may lament that Israelis are telling their stories, but they won’t dispute the gritty reality on the screen. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

Jul 18, 2016

The lead performances have power, whereas pictorially the film is pretty rough and ordinary. Read full review

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Mixed:

User Reviews

netflic

Oct 10, 2016

It is a movie by Israeli director Elite Zexer (her debut, by the way)
about a girl and her mother in a Bedouin village.
It could be called a modern Romeo and Juliette of today's Islam world. A young college girl falls in love with a boy from the university she attends. Having anIt is a movie by Israeli director Elite Zexer (her debut, by the way)
about a girl and her mother in a Bedouin village.

It could be called a modern Romeo and Juliette of today's Islam world.

A young college girl falls in love with a boy from the university she attends. Having an affair with a boy will inevitably bring lots of shame to her family. Will she be ready to put her family through shame in order to pursuit happiness?
There is no death in this movie, no blood spilled but it is no less tragic than original Shakespeare's play.

We do not see much of "Romeo", mostly the girl and her parents. And the movie is about woman's fate in that part of the world, in that culture, her place in the society. There are no bad people in the film, just backward traditions that break peoples lives.
The movie is extremely authentic, it is very subtle and nuanced.

Great debut!… Expand

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