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The Sand Pebbles
Drama, War
Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.
View on IMDbAppeals to viewers who value morally serious historical dramas about principled outsiders confronting entrenched systems and the consequences of foreign intervention.
- Tone
- tense, bleak, contemplative
- Payoff
- catharsis, reflection
- Pacing
- slow-burn
- Intensity
- intense
- Structure
- linear
- Themes
- imperialism, institutional corruption, cultural conflict, duty, moral isolation
- Setting
- early twentieth-century political upheaval, foreign gunboat on a contested river
Content dimensions
Where to watch
Rent
Apple TV Store
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Apple TV Store
Amazon Video
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home