In Continuum.

House of Sand and Fog



Behrani," Pesaram, she is a bird, a broken one. Your grandfather used to say that a bird which flies into your house is an angel. You must look upon his presence as a blessing."

--- House of Sand and Fog (2003)

Excuse me for saying this, but whoever that said this film was overly long, overly draggy, overly boring on the Mediacorps forums a few months ago should go and shoot him or herself in the head. Because this film is one of the best films I have ever seen in my entire twenty-one years of life. If you don't know how good this film is then you don't know what life, or death, or pain is. Because truly, this film encompasses all that aspect and blatantly places it in front of your eyes through the house of sand and fog. This is the under-rated movie of the entire year, great great great film.

Thankfully, I heeded not the reviews that I have read about this film online and rented it from Videoezy this afternoon. I grabbed it off the shelves because I read the title of a thread in IMDB.com that said "Top 5 Depressing Movies". I have a soft spot for depressing movies. Anything with high level of drama and depression, I'm probably in for it. That's the underside of this person, a movie with a moving story that encompasses every aspect of life. This movie gave me that, and what an emotional roller-coaster that was.

House of Sand and Fog tells the story of Kathy, who was wrongly evicted from her home that was passed down to her from her father initially. Before she could do anything through legal avenues, her house was bought by a man called Behrani, who used to be a colonel in Iran, but moved to America with his family to start a new life. Kathy, being forced out of her house for the wrong reasons, was determined to get her property back from Behrani while he refused from a legal stand point. And because of this tension and conflict between the two parties, it then involved other people who shouldn't have been involved, and the story explodes into a dramatic and depressing ending.

So much so that even I found it hard to stomach. The brilliant thing about this movie is how it asks questions that are not easily answered, because there is no right or wrong decisions. Should Behrani give up the house and not sell it for four times the price it bought it for to fulfill he and his family's American dream? Or should he give it up to Kathy because she was wrongfully evicted from the house? Should Kathy continue to fight for the house because it rightfully belongs to her? Or should she give it up because the other party has a dream to fulfill, a dream greater than the fact that she wanted the house back merely because she didn't want to look back in front of her visiting relatives?

How far would you go to realize your dream? How far would you go to redeem yourself? How far would you go for love? So many questions asked in this film, the I don't think the point Perelman - the director - is trying to put across here is to have these questions answered. He is trying to say, the more you try to seek the answers, the more you will be lost within yourself and end up at the brink of your own self-destruction. Not just you, but all the people around you are going to suffer for your quest for these answers. And so what if you do get the answers? At what cost? At what price? Is your house worth it now? Is it worth your pride, your life, your sanity and soul?

I love films that do not provide answers, and I love films that do not attempt to do so either. They leave the questions up to you, these moral and ethical questions. At the end of the day, it is all about choices and consequences. Because once you've made your choice, you cannot possibly turn back and say that you regret doing something, because you have already done it. Blood spilled, hearts broken, done deal. There is no turning back, but onward into the dark, no matter how alone you are.

I understand that you have taken a couple of bad roles as of late Sir Ben Kingsley, and you too Jennifer Connelly. But that is alright. The two of you were robbed of an Oscar, and you were even robbed of an nomination Jennifer! But fret not, the both of you are in my favorite actors and actresses list of all-time. The scene with you running out of the police station and into the hospital, and then praying to Allah stole my heart away. Jennifer, I cannot say enough great things about your performance. I mean, when you hung up the phone in the phone booth and the way you tried to kill yourself and failed to do so...greatest acting in cinema history.

And can I also say, that you are one of the most beautiful woman - ever?


Do yourself a favor, and watch this movie. If you have, watch it again. Because I am going to. Again, and then again. I know how this movie affected my mood after I watched it, and I also know that it is going to do the same emotional damage all over again. But who cares, I'm in a self-destructive pattern and has nothing to lose, now do I? Do I?