God's Sandbox
God's Sandbox ★½ Tahara 2002
This one takes a strange turn from family drama and romance into politics and religion and never finds its proper path again. Israeli author Liz tries to reconnect with rebellious daughter Rachel, who is working at a Sinai Desert resort. Liz is mistrustful of Rachel's friendship with co-worker Mustapha because he is a Bedouin, but he is eager to regale her with a local legend. Seems in the 1960s another wild child Israeli, Leila, fell in love with a local sheik's son, but her acceptance into his tribe revolves around her agreeing to the rite of female circumcision. And yes, the two stories tie together. Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles. 86m/C DVD . IS Razia Israeli, Orli Perel, Sami Samir, Meital Dohan, Juliano Merr; D: Doran Eran; W: Yoav Halevy, Hanita Halevy; C: Claudio Steinberg; M: Arik Rudich.