Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

thompson62208 I guess some did not think much of this movie. I disagree. I thought this movie was very well done. The family and their livestock are forced to move to where water is available since their well is running dry in the desert. The trials and tribulations they go through finding water to live on is quite a story. The family pays a terrible price traveling in this harsh desert land. They run into ruthless characters and have to pay a horrendous price making their way through the desert. I felt the story was told well and the actors did a great job portraying the characters, especially the father and daughter. I thought the daughter's performance was eye opening. The photography was outstanding. I recommend this movie to all peoples. The movie is happy, sad and quite emotional. See it.

Unicorn_Blade 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.

Chris Knipp POSITIVE REVIEW: Adapted from Marc Durin-Valois' prize-winning novel Chamelle by Belgian director Hänsel, this is the beautiful and moving saga of a little family somewhere in Africa forced to leave home and struggle eastward across the desert with their livestock in search of water. Along the way they endure great loss, danger, cruelty, and heartbreak. This film dramatizes many of the demographic and human problems that face the African continent: drought, revolution, lawlessness, poverty. Hänsel's powerful visual storytelling makes all these things real to us, while bringing alive the drama of human beings. Images are striking, and so are the people, and all the actors are fine, particularly the father Rahn e played by Isaka Sawadogo and his little daughter Shasha played by Asma Nouman Aden. Music is used deftly and economically. This is committed narrative film-making at its best. It brings home major issues but never seems preachy or doctrinaire. At the end, what remains of the family winds up in a UN camp. "This is my Pouzzi," says Sasha, using her pet name for her father. "He looks sad because he has lost his camel." The viewer will remember a series of striking, pathetic tableaux. A heartrending and vividly told tale.NEGATIVE REVIEW: Shot in Djibouti, Hänsel's film attempts to be universal by being unspecific in locale and by casting the dialogue by all and sundry entirely in rather academic French. Everything is generic and sanitized. If the family is desperately short of water, how come they have full wardrobes of immaculately clean clothes and are perfectly clean themselves? At the outset Rahne meets another man who says they should travel together because it's safer that way. "Yes," Rahne says, "we will travel together. We will leave before dawn to take advantage of the coolness." It's stilted elementary primer language. Even religious phrases that sound Muslim, like "God wishes it so," are said in French, when likely they would be said in Arabic. A bunch of wild looking outlaws speak the same academic French. An online viewer wrote that this is "a romanticized film made by a middle aged western woman aimed at...middle aged western women" and added, "naturally in the end the main characters get saved by white people from the West." And this is true. Hänsel uses the authentic setting and real-looking African actors to make us naive westerners believe that we're watching something real, but it's a downbeat fairy tale, none of which is true to a specific and coherent whole. Sawadogo, by the way, has lived in Norway for the last fifteen years.

emtec666 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.