"House of Sand" is a family movie in the most literal, non-Disney sense. A family created it, and it focuses on three generations of women in one family.

This visually magnificent, emotionally stirring Brazilian film spans 59 years of hard living in Maranhao, located in a remote sector of northern Brazil. Director Andrucha Waddington, whose "Me, You, Them" won praise in 2000, cast two of Brazil's leading actresses playing interchangeable mother-daughter roles at various parts of their lives.

These actresses happen to be Waddington's wife and mother-in-law, Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, respectively. The character of Aurea is the film's focus. Torres plays Aurea at ages 28 and 37. Montenegro plays her when she is 60 and 87. Aurea's mother, Dona Maria, is played by Montenegro as an elderly woman in the film's first section. Montenegro also plays Aurea's daughter Maria at age 58. Torres plays Maria at age 31.

The story begins in 1910 when Aurea's slightly daffy husband, Vasco, virtually drags her and her mother to the seemingly endless sands of Maranhao. Aurea, accustomed to urban living, despairs over her husband's choice of environment. When he dies, various circumstances force her to stay in Maranhao. Her daughter Maria finally makes the urban journey that Aurea so desperately desired.

Director Waddington creates superb physical and emotional interaction. His handling of Maranhao's white sands at times matches David Lean's treatment of "Lawrence of Arabia's" desert. Wind and sand become strong and almost human forces, alongside Aurea and Dona Maria.

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