Casa de Areia (2005)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Andrucha Waddington

Writers:

Elena Soarez (screenplay)
Luiz Carlos Barreto (story) ...

Release Date:

13 May 2005 (Brazil)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A woman is taken along with her mother in 1910 to a far-away desert by her husband, and after his passing, is forced to spend the next 59 years of her life hopelessly trying to escape it.

Plot Keywords:

1910s | Dunes | Brazil | Desert | Goat

Awards:

9 wins & 23 nominations

Cast

Fernanda Montenegro	...	Dona Maria / Áurea / Maria
Fernanda Torres	...	Áurea / Maria
Ruy Guerra	...	Vasco de Sá
Seu Jorge	...	Massu - 1910-1919
Stênio Garcia	...	Luiz - 1942
Luiz Melodia	...	Massu - 1942
Enrique Díaz	...	Luiz - 1919
Emiliano Queiroz	...	Chico do Sal
João Acaiabe	...	Pai de Massu
Camilla Facundes	...	Maria - 1919
Haroldo Costa	...	Capataz
Jorge Mautner	...	Cientista
Nelson Jacobina	...	Cientista
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zumbi Bahia	...	Carregador Vasco #1
Jefferson de Almeida Barbosa	...	Mirinho (1919)
Wadson Martins Costa	...	Mirinho - 1942
Urias de Oliveira Filho	...	Carregador Vasco 2
Guilherme Júnior	...	Pescador Fogueira
Carlos Henrique Nascimento	...	Pescador do Entreposto
Fernando Torres	...	(archive footage)

Also Known As:

House of Sand (International: English title)
The House of Sand (USA) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some graphic sexuality.

Runtime:

USA:115 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | USA:R | Hong Kong:III | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | New Zealand:R13 | France:Unrated | Singapore:R21 | Brazil:16

Filming Locations:

Lençóis Maranhenses, Maranhão, Brazil

Company:

Columbia TriStar Filmes do Brasil

Trivia:

Director Waddington wrote the two lead roles especially for his wife Ms. Torres and his mother-in-law, Ms. Montenegro.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The movie takes pains to make reference to real events. However, the location marker erected for the scientific party at the total solar eclipse shows the wrong date. It should be 29.05.1919.

Soundtrack:

Prelude Opus 28, nº 15

A cinema-graphic poem

Like "2001: A Space Odyssey", lots of people (critics included) are undoubtedly struggling to get a handle on this film. Here is an odyssey of another dimension, through shifting sands of time and perspective.

On one hand, the film is surrealistic -- it leaves many questions unanswered. It seems to purposely throw the unbelievable into our faces, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez in "100 Years of Solitude". For instance, how do the stranded women survive? What do they eat? It's a Robinson Crusoe epic without explanations.

On the other hand, the film is meticulously honest with fact and detail. The eclipse portrayed in the film was in fact observed in northern Brazil on 29 May 1919. The 7 successful photographic plates from the Brazilian expedition were fundamental in proving Einstein's theory of general (as opposed to special) relativity. Also, contrary to what another IMDb commenter has incorrectly characterized as "pseudo-scientific", one of the space-time implications of Einstein's theory is very accurately alluded to in the film.

We as viewers are left to sort out the broadly surreal from the minutely exact. We must decode the poetry of this film for ourselves. And, as with poetry, appreciation for this film will likely grow with reflection and repeated viewings.

"House of Sand" is a little jewel with hidden facets. See it on a wide screen with a good sound system to fully appreciate it.