Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2017 American war drama film called,
Sand Castle. Spoilers ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie begins at the beginning of 2003 during the war in Iraq, wherein Private Matt Jett Ocre,
a young civil affair soldier, walks in the middle of the military camp towards the Humvee vehicle.
The narration reveals that he only enlisted in the Reserves in July 2001 to get money for
college and not fight for freedom. Afterward, he suddenly slams his hand in the door of a
Humvee vehicle as he feels ashamed of joining the military and tries to attempt to get sent home.
Sometime later, Ocre shows the cast on his arm while walking in the middle of their camp
in the Kuwait Staging Area. Unfortunately, his attempt turns out to be unsuccessful,
giving him another two more years to get in a battle against the enemies.
While Ocre is walking, Cole suddenly calls him to show the vandal's name on their tank.
Ocre then shows no emotion and attempts to walk out, but Cole reminds him that he better be
safe if he doesn't see him for the rest of the war. Their next mission is to Iraq for the war,
and Cole clarifies that Kuwait Staging Area will be a ghost town later.
Later, Ocre's cast gets cut off just in time to be sent to Baghdad.
And while his cast is getting detached from his arm, the nurse asks him to rate the pain,
and suddenly, Ocre stutters from answering as he points out the pain as ten out of ten. So, the
nurse gives him some medicine and prescripts for him to take it double to handle the discomfort.
Unfortunately, Ocre tries to decline to accept the med, but the nurse insists on taking it,
saying that he has already seen guys rolling out with a lot worse.
Later at night, Ocre and the other soldier begin to maneuver their vehicle as they go for the
battle in Iraq. Then, later morning, Ocre comes with Sergeant Dylan as they run faster towards
the building. Ocre suddenly covers the fire upon entering after seeing his colleague getting a
muffled gunshot by the sniper. Afterward, Ocre radios for his report that sniper fire is not
coming from the mosque but in the hotel, which is only a hundred and fifty meters from the mosque.
After, Sergeant Dylan orders Ocre to get on the top as he gets the floor number in the hotel.
Once on top, Ocre immediately informs Sergeant Dylan that the sniper's on the third floor,
southeast corner. However, Sergeant Dylan seems to fail to shoot the sniper,
so he calls for a helicopter airstrike to destroy the entire building where the sniper is inside.
At first, Ocre asks if it's the right thing to bomb the building, yet Sergeant Dylan seems
eager to finish the sniper. So, Ocre has left no choice but to let Sergeant Dylan do his thing.
Later, Ocre and the squad celebrate their successful mission in the mosque as the
Sergeant Major announces that they will be staying there for a while. However,
Ocre suddenly feels lost from thinking about him, joining the Reserves to earn money upon entering.
Three months after the battle, Enzo plans to take a picture with an enemy's corpse before getting
him inside the vehicle. So, Jim radios him to pick up the pace because they delay sending
over the corpse. Yet, Enzo only answers him with a laughing tone on the radio. Afterward, Sergeant
Dylan forces Ocre to get inside the vehicle with the corpse despite declining his order. Suddenly,
when Ocre gets inside, he sees the corpse moving. So, he knocks on the door vehicle to tell Enzo
that it's still alive and gets out. To their surprise, both Enzo and Ocre see the hand moving
of the man they assumed to be dead. Yet, Sergeant Dylan assures them that he's only thawing out.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Major talks with Staff Sergeant Harper about the big problem with
the hole they left in Baghdad's water station after the Apaches fired it. Sergeant Major then
says that the command wants some of their guys to attach to the Special Forces team on the ground.
As Sergeant Harper listens, he suddenly receives an order that he'll report to Captain Syverson
and starts their mission to run water to the town. After that, they'll be receiving some
capital to get the locals working with the engineers on the pumping station.
Unfortunately, Sergeant Harper has left no choice but to follow it, giving him the delay
to go home as they finish their last mission. Later, Sergeant Harper announces their new
mission with the squad. At first, Enzo hesitates to accept the task, but when he hears Chutsky's
decision to come, he suddenly agrees with Sergeant Harper. Fortunately, Ocre and the rest of his team
accept the task of repairing a broken water system in the dangerous village of Baqubah.
However, Enzo asks to get a sat phone first to call home before doing their mission.
A while later, Ocre talks with Sergeant Harper and starts opening up about his fear of getting into
the village. Ocre then says they don't control it, and it's possible that the people in that area
will not be happy to see them as they destroyed their water supply during the battle. So, Sergeant
Harper assures him that they will be pleased once they get the water flowing again. However, despite
agreeing, Ocre leaves a note that there's a chance that they're walking into something bigger,
and he doesn't think he's cut out for that. So, to end Ocre's overthinking, Sergeant Harpers tells
him that he needs a man like him who's wise to see the bigger picture of their mission.
The following day, Sergeant Harper receives a warning sign that IED attacks up and down the way,
so they must maintain convoy integrity. Afterward, Ocre and the squad finally
arrive in the village and meet up with a Special Forces unit led by Captain Syverson.
Syverson walks toward Enzo to get the water flowing upon entering the village.
Unfortunately, the people start shouting for water after seeing the truck.
Some are trying to get aggressive to fill their container first by pushing Ocre's squad.
So, leaving Burton no choice, he fights back to stop attacking them.
Afterward, Syverson introduces Ocre's squad to their interpreter, Machmoud,
and explains to keep the water flowing and win the Iraqi's hearts and minds. He then warns them
not to play with Machmoud because he's a prodigy. Afterward, Syverson says no one outside the gate
wants them there, so they better do their job and turn their roars into whispers. At night,
they will go dark because snipers see a bit of light and probably will start popping shots.
The following day, Syverson tells them about traveling to the pump station
and filling a tank with water to bring back to the village every day. And it's three vehicles
and one tank per day. Afterward, Ocre and the squad maneuver their car to go to the station.
At the station, an Army engineer working on the pump explains that it will take many weeks to
finish repairs, two weeks for electrical and four for the pipes to repair. And if Sergeant Harper
will be recruiting some of the villagers to help, the repairs will go faster. Luckily, Sergeant
Harper shares the good news, saying that they will get some workers to speed it up. Afterward,
the engineer and Sergeant Harper go back to where Ocre and the squad fill the water using the tank.
Then, they compute the time they will take to distribute all the waters from the Iraqis, which
will abide by four hours and three trips per day. However, they spot a vehicle coming up at high
speed behind them during their return trip. Panicking, Sergeant Harper orders the squad to
stop their vehicle and investigate the man behind the car. Afterward, they begin interrogating the
driver, so Machmoud translates the man's words in Arabic, saying that his daughter
is sick. He's taking her to a relative who has an apothecary, their other term for pharmacy.
Then, after checking out that the car is unarmed, Sergeant Harper suddenly assumes that he gets a
bad feeling about the guy. So, he plans to arrest him and let the SF guys handle him.
Yet, Sergeant Chutsky refuses to believe Harper and gives the guy some money,
saying that he should not see him on the road again. But the man refuses to accept it.
Back at the village, Machmoud announces that they will be distributing water on their location every
day at 10 AM and says that their engineers are working very hard to get their pump station fixed.
However, the Iraqis ignore what Sergeant Harper says,
but the Sergeant continues. He then informs the locals that they will pay
anyone who shows up to work the following day as they need help repairing the pump.
Afterward, they continue filling the containers of Iraqi citizens despite struggling to line them up.
However, when the morning comes, no one in the village dares to fix the pump. Leaving
Ocre and the squad no choice, they drive their vehicle to the station with no local laborers.
Upon their arrival at the station, the army engineer asks about the Iraqis.
So, Sergeant Harper answers that no one shows up in the village and will make another plan to
work on it. He then says that he and the captain will meet with the sheikh later.
Later, Syverson and Harper's squad arrive at the sheik's house. Upon talking, the sheikh
says that he doesn't want any soldiers of the United States anymore to come to their homes.
So, Machmoud says that the soldiers give water to his people.
Afterward, Sergeant Harper says that they need an inclusion with his people to work alongside them
and help fix the problem they caused. And with his blessing, Sergeant Harper assumes that his people
will finally allow them. However, the sheikh answers, saying that if he helps the Americans,
he will pay them with his life. The sheikh also says that his people do not trust the Americans.
Desperate, Sergeant Harper keeps his promises that he will protect his people even at night.
Meanwhile, the local school administrator approaches Ocre, saying that he needs to fill the
tanks in the school for the children. Fortunately, Ocre agrees and says they will try to see it by
tomorrow. The administrator then thanks him and tells him his name, Kadeer, the school director.
Unfortunately, Sergeant Harper and his meeting with the sheikh turns out as a failure.
So, with no labor forthcoming from the village, Ocre and the squad are forced to help the
engineers themselves. Suddenly, during Ocre and the squad's another trip, several insurgents with
small arms attack them, shooting holes in their tank. Shocked, Burton shouts to tell the team
to face three o'clock to identify the attackers. Fortunately, they keep themselves safe, but their
tank gets shot, spilling out the water inside it. The next day, while passing out water, sudden
gunfire breaks out. The citizens of Iraqi suddenly panic and run away from the tank.
Suddenly, Ocre and the squad engage in a pitched firefight with several enemies shooting from
the rooftops. Unfortunately, some of the Iraqi citizens get shot, including Chutsky.
The following day, a guard calls for Ocre, who's busy repairing their damaged vehicle.
To Ocre's surprise, he sees Kadeer outside the gate, apologizing for what happened to his friend,
Chutsky. Afterward, Kadeer opens up about the water that Ocre and the squad will fill
in the school because he's already desperate to fill the school's tank to keep the school open.
Yet, Ocre refuses to do it after the shooting from yesterday.
After a while, Ocre goes to the headquarters of Syverson to inform him about Kadeer's offer
that they will help them to repair the pump. Fortunately, Syverson agrees to hear Ocre's plans,
saying that it's an excellent opportunity to work with him to reach out to the community.
Later, Ocre and the squad go to the school to give them containers full of water.
Afterward, they begin their discussion with Kadeer and make a deal.
The following day, Kadeer brings some Iraqis, including his brother,
Arif. Afterward, they start repairing the pump with the help of the local laborers.
While working, Arif says to the army engineers that he will make a new pump in two to three days.
Suddenly, Ocre and the squad form a good relationship with the Iraqis who work with them.
One morning, none of the Iraqis show up to work, even Kadeer and Arif. So,
Ocre and the squad return to the village when suddenly they find Kadeer's body burned and
tied to a stake in the schoolyard. Afterward, Arif unexpectedly visits the headquarters of Syverson.
He then angrily tells Syverson where the insurgents have been meeting. Arif points
out the flower shop where the insurgents hide their weapons as he talks. Afterward, Syverson
apologizes for his brother's death and calls the squad as they form a plan to attack that night.
Fortunately, their attack succeeds in killing several enemies and capturing more. However,
upon their battle with the insurgents, Corporal Enzo and Sergeant Burton suddenly get hit by an
explosion bomb and severe injury. Because of that, Captain Syverson evacuates them by helicopter,
reporting that there is one stable and one critical. As Burton and Enzo enter the aircraft,
Enzo suddenly apologizes to Sergeant Harper.
Yet, the Sergeant only answers him to take care of the critical Burton.
The following day, work on the pump station finally resumes. To Ocre's surprise, he sees
Arif bringing his crew of local laborers to help them. Unfortunately, only Sergeant Harper and Ocre
have left the squad. While working, one of the workers in the suicide bombing suddenly brings an
improvised explosive device into the pump station, destroying all of the work done by the group
and killing several American and Iraqis, including Arif. Luckily, Sergeant Harper and Ocre get safe,
and Sergeant Harper instantly requests an immediate medevac and reinforcements.
Afterward, Ocre and Harper return to their base in Baghdad. Then, upon their arrival,
Ocre plans on taking a bath to prepare himself for his meeting with First Lieutenant.
The movie ends with Sergeant Harper finally receiving three weeks' leave to return
to Riyadh from the First Lieutenant. Then, Ocre, on the other hand, will eventually go home as he
sends him back on the level ground. At first, Ocre tries to protest and plans on staying,
but he suddenly gets overruled by Sergeant Harper, saying that it's time for him to go home.
Then, later that day, Sergeant Harper and Sergeant Major MacGregor escort Ocre to the airfield.
However, before he boards the plane, Ocre asks Sergeant MacGregor if it's a beautiful day for
the infantry. And to Ocre's surprise, he receives an enthusiastic affirmation from Sergeant Major
MacGregor, saying that it's a beautiful day for him to catch up with his new fate.