Catherine Paver
An extraordinary film that deserves much wider viewing. Watch it without knowing anything about what happens. It took my breath away, and it reminded me that when I pour a glass of tap water and drink it I am amazingly lucky. I found it funny that one person has slated it on the grounds that it was made by a 'middle-aged woman' (horror!) and contains poor 'French-speaking Africans'. Hilarious! As a middle-aged woman whose father was from Africa, yep, there are over ninety million French-speaking Africans, and some of them are poor. Anyway. This phenomenally talented film director and her wonderful creative team deserve every single one of these stars.
Unicorn_Blade
Well, spoilers ahead! A few people pointed out elements that did not really look very likely to happen: like the fact that everyone seems to be speaking excellent French, or that the characters obviously wear fresh, ironed underwear at all times.I would only like to stress one thing in this review: none of this really matters. Of course it would be great to see this film with all the mixture of dialects the region can offer, etc. Which does not change the fact that Sound of Sands is not 'Africa for tourists' kind of film, but a touching and poignant story about an odyssey through a desert. Its main point is not the ultimate realism, but portrayal of the way family bonds are shaped, of feeling and emotions that are suppressed during the struggle to survive.Sound of Sands includes two/three scenes that I think are one of the most beautiful or poignant ever made: the last goodbye between the husband and his wife was heartbreaking. He knows they will never see each other again, she is on the verge of dying, unconscious, most likely will never open her eyes again. The other one is when the family gives water to the dying man on the desert, but is also forced to leave him out there. The man follows them like a ghost for a few meter and collapses without a sound.Sound of Sands is for me not a film about Africa only, but about human feeling, choices a lot of us do not have to take thanks to a good economical situation in out countries. The film might have been polished to suit the taste of Western audience, but it does not matter, unless you really want to make a big deal out of it.
Thijs
I've seen this movie at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. It was very very touching. A story about an African family that must undertake a journey to find water. The dangers underway are not in favor of these people. I don't want to say more, you have to see the rest for yourself!!I makes you realize that we can make a fuss about things that do not matter (too much). I mean in our, rich, world, the problems and challenges we encounter can be very real and frustrating. And although these problems can be very real, we also tend to make problems out of nothing: The very specific kind of dessert wasn't available in the supermarket, etc. This movie's a movie that you wouldn't watch with a bag of popcorn, but still I'd like to recommend it to get a more balanced view of the world we all live in.
emtec666
I saw this at the 36th International Film Festival of Rotterdam.It's a romanticized film made by a middle aged western woman aimed at...middle aged western women. It's filled with clichés about the way (rich) people from the West view Africa. The actors speak French: yeah like well clothed, French speaking Africans have to cross a desert to find water. Add in war, child soldiers etc. and an "artistic" soundtrack and the target audience will love it. Naturally in the end the main characters get saved by white people from the West. The actors acted unnatural but did a good job sticking to the silly script. Rated this a 2 because the animals acted well. For the rest it's "artistic" pulp.
AD
