In its early scenes, “Sand Storm” appears to be a film where its mother and daughter protagonists will find success in struggling against the patriarchal bonds holding them in their Bedouin village in Israel. But Elite Zexer’s directorial debut doesn’t offer easy answers or rote characterizations; despite its simple plot, it’s a complex drama with characters to match.
Its first moments show teenage Layla (Lamis Ammar) being allowed to drive a truck by her father, Suliman (Hitham Omari), in the desert. They have to switch places when they enter town so no one knows that she can drive, but there’s comfort in the idea that her father wants to give her more independence than their Muslim culture allows. Meanwhile, her mother, Jalila (Ruba Blal) worries about Suliman’s second, much-younger bride, as she helps prepare for her arrival. With no new dress to wear and the woman outside, she accepts her daughter’s offer of trading dresses.
Layla’s kindness backfires when Jalila finds her daughter’s cell phone in her pocket, and she discovers that her daughter has been talking to Anwar (Jalal Masrwa). In addition to her concern about Suliman’s prioritizing his new wife and the nicer home he has built for her, she now worries about her daughter’s behavior and how Suliman will respond when he learns of her relationship with the young man. As she realizes more about her current state as the less-privileged wife with four daughters to support, her conflicts with Suliman come to the surface. Layla begins to rebel against both her parents, when her formerly trusted father doesn’t react to Anwar quite as she’d hoped. Meanwhile, her equally spirited younger sister Tasnim (Khadija Al Akel) still experiences the freedom of a pre-teen girl as she wears what she likes and spends time in the company of her father and the other men in the village.
There are thematic ties to last year’s Oscar nominee, “Mustang,” but “Sand Storm” lacks that film’s moments of exuberant joy and female bonding. The girls in Deniz Gamze Ergüven‘s Turkey-set movie had each other, but the feeling here is more consistently of isolation, even within the family. Though Layla experiences a few glimpses of independence, strictures keep both her and her mother — and soon the three younger daughters — in line with what is expected of them. The film is at its most interesting when it depicts the various states that Jalili, Layla and Tasnim find themselves in and how the years between them define their roles within the family and within their society. I would have liked to have spent more time with Tasnim (particularly due to the young actress’s strong performance) and see more of the contrast between the pre- and post-pubescent expectations of women in this community.
Made by a Jewish and Israeli crew, “Sand Storm” is a movie built on small moments and details, grounded entirely in realism. There’s an emphasis on the everyday existence lived by Jalila and her daughters: cooking, laundry, wrapping of the head scarf and washing the floor. Other films might overlook these elements for something flashier or even more dialogue, but how these tasks inform their lives comments on their character and their world in effective ways. Though it’s a little slow in places, Zexer’s direction and her script keep things intimate throughout, showing the connections between each family member and how these connections shift in its brief running time. The cinematography from Shai Peleg works equally well in the naturally lit scenes outside, as well as in the darker moments indoors, which seeks to illuminate more about Jalila’s home, particularly in comparison to her new rival.
There’s little evidence in “Sand Storm” that this is Zexer’s first feature film. Instead, the choices she makes in terms of visuals, tone and script establish her as a strong directorial presence, hopefully with more interesting work to come in the future. [B]
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