The Sand Castle review: Nadine Labaki and Ziad Bakri film is a beautiful but frustrating watch

Family drama, which premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival, benefits from polished performances but lacks focus

Nadine Labaki as Yasmine, left, and Riman Al Rafeea as Jana in The Sand Castle. Photo: Netflix

The beauty of the allegory is its capacity to take a difficult topic and present it in a digestible and stirring form, and that is what the new thriller The Sand Castle, now streaming on Netflix, aims to do.

The film, which made its premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival, revolves around a family of four stranded on an island. The mother of the family, Yasmine, played by Nadine Labaki, routinely scans the horizon for signs of a boat. The father, Nabil, portrayed by Ziad Bakri, dutifully tries to radio for help. The couple’s two children, Adam and Jana, depicted by Capernaum stars Zain and Riman Al Rafeea, meanwhile explore the island in their own way. Adam, weary of their situation, is withdrawn from the family, listening to music and smoking his father’s cigarettes. Jana scampers along the rocky shoreline, building sandcastles and letting herself be taken by her imagination.

The island seems idyllic at first, with tall and lush stalks growing in one part, and the sea waves breaking furiously but beautifully against the coral cliffs. Yet, it quickly becomes evident that not all is as it seems. There is an eeriness to it and the family seems keen to keep the island’s secrets from their youngest member, Jana.

The cast is the film’s most alluring element. Each actor delivers a riveting performance, with Riman Al Rafeea taking the spotlight as Jana with an emotional and layered portrayal. The film’s director, Matty Brown, also offers several tastefully composed scenes, moving from painting-like arrangements to more dizzying and experimental frames as the movie progresses.

Nevertheless, The Sand Castle can be a frustrating watch, especially as the seams between reality and fiction are tattered to the point where there are no certainties to anchor to. That is, perhaps, its main drawback.

From the onset, the film is clearly an allegorical take on a pressing topic, but what it aims to reflect remains steadfastly elusive until the latter third of the film. While the joy of watching such a film is to try to piece the puzzle together, it becomes a disheartening viewing experience when pieces of the jigsaw at hand continuously change shape, making it increasingly difficult to attain any concrete image.

Zain Al Rafeea as Adam, left, and Ziad Bakri as Nabil in The Sand Castle. Photo: Netflix

The film flounders as it tries to establish a focus, introducing several visual elements that it never manages to return to. A number of themes are also brought up, but instead of delving and exploring them, it only superficially grazes them. These include the experiences of parents who try to provide their children with a better future; the uncertainty of refugees as they leave behind their war-torn nations in search of a more stable life; or, on a more universal note, the need to protect the innocence of children from looming horrors.

There are several poignant exchanges between the family members that underline the film’s urgency. One of which is a scene between Nabil and Adam, as the father witnesses his son taking his place at the radio and trying to get the light of the lighthouse working again.

The Sand Castle stars Nadine Labaki and Ziad Bakri, as well as Capernaum stars Zain and Riman Al Rafeea. Photo: Netflix

“When you lose your voice, lose your dignity, you lose everything you fought for and only the sea remains,” says a weary and injured Nabil. It is an evocative monologue, which brings to mind the plight of refugees who took to the uncertainty of the high seas, in both literal and metaphorical sense, trying to find a dignified existence behind the waves.

Ultimately, it becomes clear that the film is an artistic reflection upon the suffering of children across the Levant. It is at, this point, that The Sand Castle begins to find solid ground, and yet, it buckles again as the film once again withdraws from any plot-related certitudes. It is this hesitance to establish at least a few anchoring moments that is the film’s greatest folly.

Even once it becomes clear that the film is attempting to address the trauma incurred by children as they try to face the horrors of war, it seems to be doing so diffidently and without any meaningful reflection. By the end of The Sand Castle, and after a suffocating viewing experience, you’re left with fragmented puzzle pieces and a faint idea of the film’s intent.

Once all is said and revealed, and the credits start to roll, the allegory, though beautifully shot and with a stellar cast, is every bit as incomprehensible as the topics it attempts to tackle. Maybe that is the point.

The Sand Castle is now streaming on Netflix