‘The Sand Castle’ Explained: Symbolisms And Visual Metaphors You Might Have Missed

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Netflix’s psychological drama, The Sand Castle, follows a certain ambiguity in its plot progression, contributed to by a layered narrative treatment. On the surface, the movie presents itself as a survival thriller with mystical elements interspersed throughout—showing a family stranded on an island, trying to get by with whatever little they can salvage while waiting for help to arrive. But long before the final revelation, viewers can already decipher the heart-wrenching reality of the Middle Eastern refugees lying at the core, which has corrupted the imagination of a child. The Sand Castle is shot exceptionally well, as the visual elements capture the dreamy, imaginative quality of the story and the underlying dread seamlessly. There are several universal and personal metaphors and symbolisms showcased in the movie that all the more enrich the storytelling. While some of these are easy to spot and interpret, a couple others need a bit more observation.

Spoilers Ahead


The Island And The Sand Castle

Let’s start with the easier ones—the island where Jana and her family are shown to have been stranded symbolizes their isolation and the rootless predicament of the refugees, who have been driven out of their own war-torn homeland. While this bears a negative connotation, it might also be interpreted from Jana’s perspective—in which case the island is a seclusion, a safe haven for her family where the horrors of the outside world cannot touch them. Refugee children like Jana, who have been exposed to severe psychological trauma contributed to by their sordid experiences in a war-ravaged world, might find themselves seeking shelter in isolation, and what better place to find it if not on a godforsaken island in the middle of the ocean? The imagery of an island is also shown present in the life raft where Jana, the only survivor of the drowning incident, was present—which triggered the imagination of the little girl.

The change of weather, flooding of the island, and overall collapse indicate the way the horrors of reality barge into Jana’s imagination and shatter it from within. The hand-cranked lamp inside the lighthouse, which Nabil, Yasmine, and Adam try to turn on to draw the attention of the rescue party, is a symbol of hope in desperate times—how in the face of impossible odds the members of the family tried their best to survive and protect Jana, hoping for a better future. 

The eponymous sandcastle, which Jana is seen building at the seashore of the island, is a symbol of the fragile, uncertain nature of her imagination. The world Jana has created in her mind is not meant to last, just like sand castles tend to wash away in the waves after a while. In Jana’s imagination, the life raft peeps through underneath the sand castle, once again indicating that her imagination is being intruded upon by the dreads of reality. 


Fish Inside A Bottle

Another visual cue that is easy to decipher is the fish caught inside the bottle that Jana carries with her for a certain time until her imaginary world starts to collapse and she releases it. The fish, taken away from its habitat, represents the experience of displacement, entrapped in an environment from which it cannot hope to escape on its own—like the refugee children who are caught in the clutches of war.


The Red Shoe Of Yara

The red shoe of Yara, which brings back Jana’s memories of her sister, whom she lost during the bombings, symbolizes loss of innocence—similar to the red coat-wearing girl in Schindler’s List. The image was hidden in the recesses of Jana’s mind, as unable to cope with the truth of her sister’s demise, she had buried the memory in the depths of her subconscious. 


Big Blue Monster

The big blue monster Jana mentions in the very beginning of the movie has multiple different interpretations. On a very superficial level, it is represented by the blue tarp that covered Jana’s life raft, but there is no reason as to why Jana would consider it to be an antagonizing presence. The blue monster also indicates the vast ocean, which has devoured her family along with a number of other refugees during the boat drowning incident. 

However, I can’t help but notice there might be a much more significant real-world political allusion hidden in the mention of the big blue monster—given the fact that several indicators hint that Jana and her family are from the war-torn Middle East and Asia. Jana’s big blue monster might be a reference to the global superpowers, the aggressors whose greed and warmongering tendencies ravaged their country. Without mentioning anything in particular, I can say that the color blue symbolizes a couple of such first world military superpowers that have exercised their might on the people of the nations whose plight is showcased in the movie. 


Siddhartha Das
Siddhartha Das
An avid fan and voracious reader of comic book literature, Siddhartha thinks the ideals accentuated in the superhero genre should be taken as lessons in real life also. A sucker for everything horror and different art styles, Siddhartha likes to spend his time reading subjects. He's always eager to learn more about world fauna, history, geography, crime fiction, sports, and cultures. He also wishes to abolish human egocentrism, which can make the world a better place.


 

 

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