? Seeking refuge in the unknown. After starring in Capharnaüm — the film that received the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2018 — young Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeea returns with his younger sister Riman to star in The Sand Castle alongside Nadine Labaki once again. This movie delivers a realistic and suspenseful glimpse into the horrors of war and how it impacts the children that live through it.

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The plot: On a deserted island free of anything but a few bushes, we’re introduced to a family that has fled a war and is now stranded on an island seeking refuge. Consisting of a father, Nabil (Ziad Bakri), a mother, Yasmine (Nadine Labaki), and two siblings, Adam (Zain Al Rafeea) and Jana (Riman Al Rafeea), all of the family’s hope lies in a ship passing or help arriving to rescue them. As Nabil and Yasmine attempt to use the lighthouse’s lamp and radio to secure help, Adam is left wallowing in despair while imaginative Jana conjures up a monster waiting to swallow anything that dares come close to the water.

As the events begin to unfold, the line between reality and imagination becomes increasingly blurry. We see the story through the eyes of two children who are witnessing their family exchange the horror of the war for the horror of the sea — all in search of survival. The film’s many poetic moments bring this home, as when Nabil says, “When your family is taken from you, when your voice is taken from you, your dignity… everything you ever fought for. Nothing remains but the sea.”

The movie is visually captivating and the actors all give emotional performances — especially Riman, who manages to convey all the emotions that an exhausted and dejected child might feel with just her eyes. While some critics have argued that the plot is too complex and not sufficiently entertaining, this complexity mimics real life with all its painful details — highlighting the suffering that children endure in such circumstances. The Sand Castle offers a glimpse at a struggle that those who haven’t lived won’t recognize — but one that thousands of people experience every day, whether they remain in the midst of war or are dealing with its haunting memory.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can watch the movie on Netflix or catch the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 2:08).

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