Review of House of Sand and Fog (2003) by ♥Robyn — 19 Nov 2011

The film firstly follows Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) as she is evicted from her beach house due to taxes that she didn't owe. Kathy realizes that the government wronged her and her only recourse would be to sue, but meanwhile she is homeless. The house is sold on at an auction before the error is corrected. Cue Ben Kingsley as a Middle Eastern refugee Colonel Behrani who fled to America and worked his fingers to the bone to get enough money to make a property investment and try to get back a fraction of the upper class lifestyle he and his wife Soraya (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and son Esmail (Jonathan Ahdout) were accustomed to. Behrani's desire to make a better life for himself and his family is perfectly rational and is indeed lauded in the American culture. He wants to sell the house off after buying it at a fraction of the value. The big moral dilemma is who`s in the right?

Riveting performances from Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley in this story that transcends the surface issues and deals with prejudice, pride, desperation and obsession! Make no bones about it, this is a not the usual feel good Hollywood film but a dark and bleak film with no clear hero or villain, just regular people caught up in events that will eventually break them and destroy their lives.