The truth is that it has been difficult to me to enter a little in this film, I recognize that at first it is not easy that it hooks you, given that the requirements do not help to entering in the film, on the contrary, they identify a place of the that little people it would want to go or at least to live. A Brazilian zone very arid, desert, suns sand, and with the minimum of water to survive.This makes that the role of the actors/actresses is more distinguished, more imported, for such keeps on being entered in their so particular world. Of first everybody we identify with the protagonist, feeble delivery of the story, pregnant woman who wishes to go in order to have her son in another place where the life is easier. Some characters that they sell are from the civilization and therefore they know that the to leave that place is necessary in order to make something in their lives. Him, the husband, a crazy man who does not want to know nothing of the civilization denies her, his son and the mother of her the possibility to come back there.Detached they will be other circumstances and characters who will avoid the power to leave this desert place. The same actresses embody characters who evolve during the years, and interpret equally the mother, the daughter and the grandson although it is not makes stranger and do not make it enough understandable and at all confusing in a way.To highlight the erotic scene, among Areia i Massu, a scene full of exoticism and sexuality, of the most exciting and intense that I have seen in the cinema in a lot of time. I believe that this film does not stop being a metaphor about our lives, about the desire to bring about our dreams and to wish the improvement of our reality. And like once not have to achieve these dreams, we end up clutching in our realities, and to the people that we love.The final comment where Maria tells her mother Areia, already with a very advanced age, that the man has gone to the moon, it is great and and it finishes with a very personal message of the creator of the story. I interpret with this end, that Maria communicates metaphorically her mother Areia, that even if she has been able to go from there, in the requirement she has found the same miseries and difficulties. A great end.

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.

Casa de Areia, better known in English speaking countries by the title, House of Sand, is a magnificently shot film of three generations of mothers and daughters covering a 60-year struggle to fulfill a dream.The story is set in an isolated white dessert dunes in the northern Brazil . The beautiful sand swells become characters in the film as they change with time. The landscape is heightened when sapphire waters speckle the dunes as far as one can see.In 1910, this seldom visited locale is the place where Vasco brings his younger wife, Aurea (Fernanda Torres) and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro ) to settle and build a homestead. Before long, Vasco dies leaving his pregnant wife and mother-in-law trapped in a place they cannot escape.Montenegro, who in 1999, was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the international film, Central Station, once again shows how one can communicate so much without saying a word. At one point in this film she leaves and returns to play her own daughter who is now grown and has an adult child. Her widowed daughter also trades places to play that adult child. All this might sound confusing but its not. The film evolves through many years at a pace which creates a comfort level allowing you to accept these women as they transition through each role. The depth of the relationships between the two are so entwined on screen you find it easier to understand knowing they are real-life mother and daughter.Casa de Areia takes you on a journey you are happy to be a part of. It's a journey, although difficult at times, that is well worth the adventure and an adventure never performed in American cinema.

I loved this movie because it is fully of truthful contrasts. The larger story portrays the passing of time and immense global changes through war, scientific and technological advances. Everything changes, yet stays the same. Regardless of the generation, youth longs for excitement and change, while time brings calmness and acceptance of circumstance. The most amazing part is all is that the passing of time is portrayed from within an oasis in the middle of sand dunes where the sands of time pass slowly yet surely. This contrast, and the circumstances that bring the characters there, leave the audience wondering witch they would choose, the simple, calm, and relaxed life of the sand, or the stressful, competitive, yet object filled life in the city.It's important to stay sharp to catch the change in generations because the actresses remain the same throughout, but this only adds to the story's message once you figure it out. I gave it a 10