The Sand Castle Ending, Explained: Is the Island Real?

Directed by Matty Brown, Netflix’s thriller movie ‘The Sand Castle’ is a tale of survival that is narrated through the eyes of a family of four, comprising Jana, Adam, Yasmine, and Nabil, who are stranded on a remote island in the middle of nowhere. The film presents a complex, surreal story that walks the tightrope between fiction and reality. As such, things are never transparent or predictable at any point. This becomes particularly pronounced near the end as the intensity of the psychological ride ramps up, and questions are asked about the validity of the events that are depicted throughout the fantasy drama. The ambiguous conclusion adds another layer of subterfuge and deception into the mix, pointing at a more profound truth lurking within the narrative, especially when seen through the eyes of a child! SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Sand Castle Plot Synopsis

‘The Sand Castle’ begins with Jana wandering around a small island that has become her family’s refuge. They are all stranded on this derelict piece of land and must ration their food daily. As the youngest in the family, she still retains the playful instinct of her childhood and roams around the island all day, trying to enjoy however she can. She imagines the sea as a monster and the lighthouse at the center of the island as her safe haven, along with her family. However, Jana’s way of looking at the situation is far from the perspective her parents, Yasmine and Nabil, hold. They are struggling to find a way to escape from the island, and their radio messages continue to be ignored. A tiny glint of hope appears when they are able to switch on the lighthouse.

Yasmine and Nabil convince Jana and Adam that their rescue is imminent and they will be picked up as soon as the next day. The latter seems skeptical of the hopeful update but decides to keep quiet about it. It is evident that Nabil is exhausted after days of trying to find a way out of the situation. The stress has also moved on to Yasmine to an extent. During the night, Jana asks her brother whether he dreams about “her,” referring to their dead sister, Yara. Adam does not reply back, but clearly, her death means a lot to the family. On the day of the imminent rescue, the group waits on the island’s shores with their suitcases in hand. However, no ships appear over the horizon to pick them up, and their hopes are crushed. They head back to the house while Jana stays outside, playing with the dirt.

Jana accidentally uncovers a mysterious object lying buried underneath the sand. She is intrigued by it and pokes a hole in its tough exterior. Through it, she hears audible noises that sound like screams. She returns to the house after burying the object with sand again. However, the hole sucks in some of the sand. Mysteriously, the lighthouse stops working. Nabil and Yasmine continue worrying about their escape plans as the next day passes. When Adam and Jana return home with a turtle, their mother angrily tells them to release it. Over time, even Nabil becomes increasingly frustrated, and that frustration moves on to Adam. Jana is the only one still lost in her own world as she tries to make the best out of a terribly bleak situation.

The Sand Castle Ending: What Happens to the Family?

Feeling bad about yelling at Adam, Yasmine has a tender moment with him as she listens to his song collection and dances to the tunes. He joins in as well. Subsequently, Adam and Nabil go fishing for squid the next day. As the escape plans remain a distant dream, father and son engage in bonding time underneath the waves. Yasmine watches them from the shore. Meanwhile, Jana stays close to the lighthouse and the home, playing with her things. However, she sees a mysterious shadow behind the former establishment and follows it into the grass field nearby. Back at the squid hunting area, Nabil and Adam head deeper to search for more squid. There, Nabil is terrified at the sight of a dead girl lying on the water bed. His son has to pull him out. By this point, he has already sustained a nasty injury to his leg.

As the family looks to tend to Nabil’s injury, Jana returns from the grass field with a small red shoe. It alarms Yasmine, and she accompanies her back into the grassy forest, returning the shoe to its resting place. The other red shoe is actually on the dead girl who Nabil sees in the water. Because of his injury, he becomes frustrated with his inability to help his family with any physical activities. Yasmine has to take responsibility in his place, but it begins to take a toll on her psyche. After a rainstorm passes by the island that night, Adam discovers a puddle of clean water, which brightens the family’s mood. Things go awry when Yasmine realizes that Jana is drowning in the sea. She rescues her daughter but ends up losing her life.

Nabil and Adam are the only ones left alive to care for Jana in the following days. However, the patriarch’s injured state has left him completely delusional as he, too, has become utterly reliant on his son to take care of him. Adam hands his father a cup of “coffee” after he asks for one. It is nothing more than an empty cup. Nabil’s delusions eventually lead to his death as he crawls out of the house by himself and passes away on the shore. He sees a woman watching him from the water, likely a vision of his recently deceased wife. As the big brother, Adam tries to keep his sister safe from the island’s forces and find a way to escape. However, it is a responsibility much too great for him to shoulder on his own. A big breakthrough occurs when he receives a radio call from a nearby ship in the ocean. Adam messages them the island’s coordinates, relieved that help is finally arriving.

Who Does Jana See in the Flashback? Is the Island Real or Imagination?

Adam and Jana spend their time as peacefully as possible, trying to remain calm in their desperation. One day, they notice a ship on the horizon. However, it is too far to see anybody on the island. Desperate to not let the opportunity slip by, Adam leaps into the water and swims towards it. Jana watches her brother move farther and farther away until she can no longer see him. His figure vanishes entirely, and she realizes that she is the only one left on the island now. She recollects an incident from the past, mostly that centers on her family and their dead sibling, Yara. She sees a memory of them getting together for a family picture. In another recollection, Jana sees herself in school with her sister. Her thoughts return to a time when they had a typical day at school until an explosion rocked through the facility, leaving Yara dead.

Back in the present day, Jana sees a vision of Yara, and they share a tender moment. At this point, the island is slowly submerged. In an earlier scene, Adam tells Jana that the island is beginning to get flooded. Although it is unclear how the flood works, there can be certain ties to the family’s situation. As Jana’s life begins to unravel with the death of her parents and her brother, the flood that drowns the island is symbolically linked to her own state of mind. It brings to question the nature of the island itself and whether it is a real or an imaginary place constructed by her to live with the trauma surrounding her.

The island is likely a safe space Jana creates to soften the harsh realities of her life. She imagines herself as a shipwrecked person stranded on an island, like a movie character, to combat her traumas. The same reasoning possibly applies to her family. In reality, they are confronting something a lot more tragic and disturbing—the death of their loved one, Yara.

Does Jana Survive? What is the Meaning of The Sand Castle?

At the end of ‘The Sand Castle,’ Jana watches the island become totally flooded as only the lighthouse remains over the water’s surface. A lifeboat then unfurls in the sea to help her escape. It is the same lifeboat that has been hidden underneath her sand castle. She mounts the boat in time before the water drowns her. Subsequently, the boat slowly drifts over the ocean until a bright light shines over it on the horizon. It turns out to be a ship heading towards her. Although it is difficult to make out the people on the ship, the person at the front seems to be her brother, Adam. It looks like he has managed to flag down the rescue ship and have it head towards the island to save his sister. Jana looks into the light with an impassive expression as help finally appears on the horizon.

The film’s ending denotes that it has a more profound message at its heart. It states, “This film is dedicated to all the children who are forced to live in their own imagination in order to survive.” Another frame states that there are 500 million children worldwide living in war-torn areas. Thus, the harrowing survival story in ‘The Sand Castle’ is based on the tragic experiences of children who have suffered the terrors of war and its impact on their tender psyche. The film uses an allegory and a fantasy tale to showcase what war does to innocent families, forcing them into a desperate corner and traumatizing them forever. The ocean surrounding Jana and her family is a metaphor for the inescapable destruction of war and how it slowly encroaches on the island and destroys everything it touches.

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