'House of Sand and Fog' is a tragedy, definitely not recommended viewing for anyone depressive, and eminently suitable for those who bring along a kleenex box to share with friends instead of popcorn for the occasion! Rent it, don't buy it, because you might probably be able to sit through it again, although it is a masterpiece...
The acting is brilliant, particularly Ben Kingsley & Jennifer Connelly were outstanding in this film. Also the cinematography, along Malibu.
I won't go into the entire plot here, that can be read online. But one aspect of the film deals with a cultural group I am familiar with, having Iranian friends who had to leave everything behind when Khomeini came to power in Iran, and their struggle to maintain their standard of living, or to recreate it. However, there was one reason why I was not 100% in sympathy with the character portrayed by Kingsley: as a former Colonel in SAVAK, the very brutal former Iranian domestic & intelligence service of Iran, which had unlimited powers of arrest and detention, he would undoubtedly have been responsible for some nastiness, and had some blood on his hands. Although not in context here, this is something I considered in what was actually a very affecting part of the movie, where, not wanting to give much away, he is pleading to doG for the life of his son while kneeling with his forehead to the floor, hands covered with blood, pleading for the life of his son.
The ending is pretty heavy, but to me not entirely unreminiscent of a couple of the more tragic Bollywood movies.
This one,Iphigenia, carries a two-kleenex box weepie warning, there was not a dry eye in the house, male or female:
On the notion of sacrifice, I was reminded of a film I saw as a student, Iphigenia (1977), directed by Michael Cacoyannis (his credits include Zorba the Greek and The Cherry Orchard, a Checkhov play). His co-author for the script was Euripides! Among the actors,the only familiar face is Irene Papas, OTT, but not inappropriately so, this is Greek drama.
The story unfolds very slowly, but it is worth persevering. Put simply: the Greek army is about to sail to Troy for a major battle, but there is no wind. Apparently some of King Agamemnon's men has displeased the goddess Artemis by killing a sacred deer. He and his brother Menelaus are happy to hear from the soothsayer that just a sacrifice would be needed...until they hear what it is- his daughter Iphigenia is to be sacrificed. The entire movie is propelled by the dilemma- should he ignore the soothsayer and risk the winds never arriving in time? Or should they give the chick the cop to get things going? The poor girl doesn't know...
