A policeman in China confronts his violent past of condoning the torture of Falun Gong practitioners. As he oscillates between his current fears about starvation during the storm, his greater fears of his past are juxtaposed with his situation—and the actual storm outside is nothing like what he has to face within himself.
Though China is emerging as an economic superpower, films like Sandstorm serve to caution us about the hidden atrocities that occur under a strict no-tolerance regime. Based on true accounts of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China today, this film is a moving portrayal of how obedience without question can be crippling.