House of Sand and Fog, the Movie

This is a movie I wish I could say better things about. I mean, I can say pretty good things about it: great acting, terrific cultural contrasts depicted, good dialogue. Sad, but good: the buildup of a difficult-to-resolve conflict between basically decent people working toward mutually exclusive goals.

But the end just ruined it for me. A teenage boy's idea of tragedy, fed by Macbeth, or Hamlet: ratchet up the conflict (bound up in "fatal flaws"), compound by malevolent happenstance, and then have everyone die.

Ugh.

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