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Pretty Good

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Well, spoilers ahead! A few people pointed out elements that did not really look very likely to happen: like the fact that everyone seems to be speaking excellent French, or that the characters obviously wear fresh, ironed underwear at all times.I would only like to stress one thing in this review: none of this really matters. Of course it would be great to see this film with all the mixture of dialects the region can offer, etc. Which does not change the fact that Sound of Sands is not 'Africa for tourists' kind of film, but a touching and poignant story about an odyssey through a desert. Its main point is not the ultimate realism, but portrayal of the way family bonds are shaped, of feeling and emotions that are suppressed during the struggle to survive.Sound of Sands includes two/three scenes that I think are one of the most beautiful or poignant ever made: the last goodbye between the husband and his wife was heartbreaking. He knows they will never see each other again, she is on the verge of dying, unconscious, most likely will never open her eyes again. The other one is when the family gives water to the dying man on the desert, but is also forced to leave him out there. The man follows them like a ghost for a few meter and collapses without a sound.Sound of Sands is for me not a film about Africa only, but about human feeling, choices a lot of us do not have to take thanks to a good economical situation in out countries. The film might have been polished to suit the taste of Western audience, but it does not matter, unless you really want to make a big deal out of it.

I've seen this movie at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. It was very very touching. A story about an African family that must undertake a journey to find water. The dangers underway are not in favor of these people. I don't want to say more, you have to see the rest for yourself!!I makes you realize that we can make a fuss about things that do not matter (too much). I mean in our, rich, world, the problems and challenges we encounter can be very real and frustrating. And although these problems can be very real, we also tend to make problems out of nothing: The very specific kind of dessert wasn't available in the supermarket, etc. This movie's a movie that you wouldn't watch with a bag of popcorn, but still I'd like to recommend it to get a more balanced view of the world we all live in.

I saw this at the 36th International Film Festival of Rotterdam.It's a romanticized film made by a middle aged western woman aimed at...middle aged western women. It's filled with clichés about the way (rich) people from the West view Africa. The actors speak French: yeah like well clothed, French speaking Africans have to cross a desert to find water. Add in war, child soldiers etc. and an "artistic" soundtrack and the target audience will love it. Naturally in the end the main characters get saved by white people from the West. The actors acted unnatural but did a good job sticking to the silly script. Rated this a 2 because the animals acted well. For the rest it's "artistic" pulp.

I saw this film at the Palm Springs Film Festival and was fortunate to also participate in the Q&A session after the film with the director. This was a very good film about the struggles within the small villages in Africa that are lacking access to water. The film deliberately does not state a particular region of Africa because the story can be applied to almost anywhere across the continent. The film was really well casted and the cinematography was well depicted. I especially enjoyed the musical soundtrack. Bring a bottle of water with you to see this film because it will make you thirsty! We forget how difficult life is for others in regions of the world we are not very familiar with and I love these types of movies that remind us to remember others and their struggles. It is heartbreaking to think hundreds of thousands of people are struggling as those in this movie. The story focuses on one family in a village that decides to travel across a desert in search of water wells. There are no roads and no one can be trusted so their decision is life threatening but must be done because of the lack of water in their own village. The family crosses the desert and suffers tragedies along the way that bring you emotionally into the movie. There was one scene we had to laugh about, in the desert when the father and daughter were resting and leaning on the camel with a little make shift shade cover; they were on the wrong side of the camel because the other side had a LOT more shade then the sunny side they were on. Strongly recommend everyone to support films like this one, it's so important for us to help our neighbors and not just the ones with resources we want.