SAND CASTLE
US, 2017, 113 minutes, Colour.
Nicholas Hoult, Henry Cavill, Logan Marshall- Green, Glen Powell, Navid Neghaban, Beau Knapp, Sam Spruel, Tommy Flanagan.
Directed by Fernando Coimbra.
Sand Castle is one of many films made about the American presence in Iraq. The setting for this film is early after the American invasion, focusing on a group of young American soldiers, especially one played by Nicholas Hoult, a student who had tried to injure his hand so that he would not have to go on active service. He fails. He finds himself in Iraq, working with a group of men, connecting with a special services commander.
The young man is sent out on patrol, seeing a sniper and saving the situation. But the main mission of the men is to supply water for Iraqis in need, discussions with a schoolteacher in a village (who is then killed because of the connection by insurgents). The transport of the water is sabotaged by insurgents, firing at the water tanks and their leaking. The attempted liaisons are difficult because of the hostility of so many of the locals.
There are skirmishes, battles, deaths, explanations of strategies – and the young man finally wanting to stay and not go home but, on orders, sent back to the United States.
The film does not stand out but serves as yet another chapter in the enormous destruction and disruption of life in the Middle East because of the American invasion, the Allies, the ambiguities of their motivations and their inefficiencies in the aftermath of the invasion.
1. The invasion of Iraq? The American presence? Iraqi citizens? Insurgents? The atmosphere post 9/11?
2. The opening in the United States, ordinary life, the transition to the military? Military training, bonding? Iraq, acclimatisation? Headquarters, villages, supplying water, sabotage? Action detail?
3. The locations, Iraq and the desert, the villages, military headquarters? The musical score?
4. The film based on a true story, the experience of the screenwriter? The issue of water in the villages, supply, collaboration, hostility and sabotage?
5. The focus on poker, young, American, his studies, damaging his hand, failing, going to Iraq, awareness of the Sniper and the bombardment? The effect of being in Iraq, the range of friendships, superiors, orders, going into action, changing?
6. , Capt Iversen, command, action, decisions, Special Forces? Lead, the role of interpreters for the Iraqis and the Americans?
7. Missions, hostility, insurgents, driving through the desert, the encounter with the child, the puzzle? The bombings, the attacks?
8. The issue of the water, the pipes, destruction, rebuilding? The need for water, the village? The people in the village, the insurgents and the attacks, the repairs? The discussions with the teacher in the village? His explaining the needs? His being killed? The role of his brother?
9. Dialogue, hostilities, plans, the detail?
10. Crap and his finishing his term, wanting to stay, going home, the range of frustration, the American experience in Iraq, the judgement on the American intervention?
