The Israeli, Arabic Language Film SAND STORM

SAND STORM is an Arabic language film set in the Negev.  The film follows a Bedouin family that is entrenched in an a patriarchal and hierarchal tribal society in which women are subjected to docile property of men.  The film centers on the eldest daughter Layla (Lamis Ammar) and her contentious & loving relationship with both her mother Jalila (Ruba Blal) and father Sulimin (Hitham Omari).  Layla is driving the truck with her father in the passenger seat (while looking down at her cell phone).  A contemporary scenario of a father guiding his daughter in learning to drive and admonishing her to keep her eyes on the road.  Things change as they approach their Bedouin village and father/daughter change seats.  Women are not permitted to drive in this Bedouin culture.  In fact, women are not permitted to do act without permission from their parents which is imperially imposed by the father.  Jalila is busy preparing a wedding celebration with repressed resentment.  The wedding she's hosting is for her husband's  2nd wife.  Polygamy is a common practice within the tribe as are arranged marriages by the father & tribal sheik.  Women wear hajibs and are completely covered outside the home.  Sulimin appears to be a kind & indulgent father. He's teaching Layla to drive, permits her to attend university.   His 3 younger daughters go to school wearing jeans & t-shirts.  There is a cultural & technological clash.  iphones are available but homes are haphazardly strewn together with limited electricity.  Tensions between Layla & her mother combust when Jalila discovers Layla has a boyfriend from the Univ.  She's forbidden to have further contact with him.  Fraternizing with men outside the family is forbidden as is marrying outside one's tribe.  Layla believes she can reason with her father despite seeing how her mother's life is being pushed aside by Sulimin for his new wife.  Sulimin seeming love for his daughter's is not sovereign to his commitment to the archaic tribal customs that keep women subservient.  This turbulent & troubling way of life show the women, Layla and Jalila to be strong, self-sacrificing but shackled to their ordained lives.  Sulimin proves himself cowardly & vain.  This intimate examination of this Bedouin family portrays an impoverished Bedouin tribe and a way of life that is oppressive to women.