House of Sand (Widescreen)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Fernanda Montenegro, Fernanda Torres, Ruy Guerra, Seu Jorge, Stênio GarciaBrand: MONTENEGRO,FERNANDA
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Portuguese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-12-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of House of Sand (Widescreen)
Movie Review: Staggeringly Beautiful Cinematic Epic
Summary: 5 Stars
CASA DE AREIA ('HOUSE OF SAND) is a masterpiece of filmmaking from Brazil. Written by Elena Soarez and Luis Carlos Barreto the story seems more a magical metaphor than a tale of real life - until the film concludes and the immediacy and universality of the messages haunt the viewer's mind for hours. It is a film directed by Andrucha Waddington with a cast of superb actors but the focus of the film, the films central character, is the bleak isolation of the sweeping desert of Northern Brazil.
The film opens in 1910 with a caravan of wind swept characters appearing in the distance of the dunes of the desert, a group of wayfarers apparently escaping the poverty of the bog city to find a home of their own, land that can be called something that belongs to them. They are led by Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) and his wife Áurea (Fernanda Torres) and her mother Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro), both of whom plead with Vasco to let them return to the poverty of the city instead of being forced to attempt to exist in the sands of the windy desert. Vasco is determined, builds a house, forces the women to live there and the others to pitch tents to exist. Áurea becomes pregnant, Vasco is confronted by the real owners of the land led by Massu (Seu Jorge), and must trade his possessions to remain in his 'home', a home which crashes around him leaving Vasco dead and Áurea and Dona Maria to fend for themselves. The others desert the two women and the women find their only help in Massu.
Time passes slowly (to 1919) and the changing sands begin to bury the house. Áurea, now a mother of a daughter Maria (Camilla Facundes), finds a telescope and sets out to see if she can find its owner and a way out of the desert. She encounters a group of scientists photographing the solar eclipse, a group protected by Luiz (Enrique Díaz) who bonds with Áurea, has a night affair with her, and then promises to take Áurea, her old mother Dona Maria, and her young daughter Maria to the city. Áurea sets out for her house only to find it now covered with a dune, her mother dead and her daughter Maria traumatized: the chance for escape is gone.
We move to 1942 and daughter Maria is now a woman (played by Fernanda Montenegro) who has bonded with Massu (now played by Luiz Melodia) and her sensual daughter Maria (played by Fernanda Torres) are still waiting for the return of Luiz. The older Luiz (Stênio Garcia) returns and Maria seduces him, even though Luiz knows she is his old lover's daughter. He returns to the house, meets the 'Áurea/Maria' he loved and ultimately agrees to take the younger Maria to the city: the older Maria elects to stay with Massu. Again time leaps to 1970 and the younger Maria in hippie outfit drives out to see her mother (both Marias are now played by Fernanda Montenegro) and the reunion of hopes and dreams of over 60 years are realized in a manner that brings the film to a haunting conclusion.
The cast is extraordinarily fine, blending into the movement of nature and symbolizing the elements of love, longing, loneliness, destiny, and survival. The repeated use of the two major actresses is a stroke of genius: we are caught up in the intuitive understanding of all the manifestations of these two women over time as they change roles not only as actresses but also as blending characters.
In a fine touch of genius, the films credits are rolled as Brazilian pianist Nelson Friere plays the Chopin 'Raindrop Prelude'. It is a moving ending to a magnificent film. Highly recommended. In Portuguese with English subtitles. Grady Harp, December 06
Summary of House of Sand (Widescreen)
Filmed entirely on the magnificent, sandy coast of northern Brazil, Áurea's saga begins in 1910, in Maranhão, where her fanatical husband has relocated his family to start a farm. Desperate and pregnant, Áurea (Fernanda Torres) longs to return to the city, but cannot traverse the dunes with her aging mother, Maria (Fernanda Montenegro) in tow. When calamity strikes, the two women find themselves stranded. Eventually, they settle among the shifting sands and Áurea finds peace. But her passionate daughter, Maria, longs to explore the world beyond the dunes. This profound portrait of passing generations has established Andrucha Waddington as one of the most exciting directors in Brazil today.The landscape looks like the surface of the moon. Set in Brazil's Maranhão desert, House of Sand follows three generations of women, from 1910 to 1969, as they eke out a living from this hostile environment. Oafish Vasco (director Ruy Guerra) brings pregnant wife Áurea (Fernanda Torres) and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station), from the city to make a new start. Shortly after they arrive, fate takes him out of the picture. Mother and daughter muddle through with the help of slave descendents. Wary at first, Massu (Seu Jorge, City of God) takes a particular shine to the duo. The story then skips ahead to 1919, when an escape route materializes. There will be two more shifts in time. By 1942, Áurea's daughter, Maria (Torres), has grown into impetuous womanhood, while Áurea (Montenegro) and Massu (Luiz Melodia) have settled into middle age. In the final section, set during the year of the first lunar landing, Áurea (Montenegro) is around the same age as her mother at the start of the film. With the exception of Camilla Facundes as nine-year-old Maria, Torres and her real-life mother assume every female role. What does it all mean? Andrucha Waddington (Me You Them) doesn't burden his enigmatic epic with a singular message, but those who appreciate dust-swept dramas like Woman in the Dunes and Walkabout aren't likely to hold it against him. The point seems to be that the human--especially the female--capacity for survival knows no bounds. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from House of Sand (click for larger image)
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