The House of Sand and Fog

reviewed by Bill Creasy

This 2003 movie is about a conflict over a house, and not even a particularly nice house. It shows that property is important, but not as important as human lives.

The movie begins when Kathy Nicolo (played by Jennifer Connelly, who won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind is evicted from her house. The house was left to her by her father. The county government mistakenly accused her of failure to pay business taxes that she didn't owe. But because she didn't read letters that came in the mail, the mistake wasn't corrected, and the eviction was scheduled. The next day, the house was auctioned off.

The house was purchased by Col. Behrani (Sir Ben Kingsley), who was a proud, complex man. He was a colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, but he was forced to flee the country with his family. In America, he worked long hours in menial jobs, while trying to maintain a facade of his former status for his own pride and for his family's well-being. He saw the house as an opportunity to buy an inexpensive house that reminded him of a cottage that he owned in Iran. He planned to resell the house at the market value, and use the profit to get a bigger house.

The movie shows the conflict between these characters and their families. More importantly, the movie shows the parallels between their lives. Perhaps inevitably, there are cultural misunderstandings by each side about the other. But the conflict does not revert to unconditional warfare. Instead, when Kathy is injured, she receives acts of kindness from Behrani's wife. It even appears that the situation will be resolved, but good will doesn't avert a tragedy. The structure of the movie shows the parallels in the lives of the characters, and it has an excellent way of creating a balance of sympathy for all of the main characters.

The movie has great performances by Connelly and Kingsley, as well as by supporting actors Ron Eldard as Lester, the Deputy Sheriff who befriends Kathy; Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadi, Behrani's Iranian wife; and Jonathan Ahdout as Esmail, Behrani's Americanized son. It is available on DVD.

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