MORE SEX THAN SENSE IN 'SANDBOX'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

FILMED THREE years ago, the Israeli production ``God's Sandbox'' comes to us with a recommendation from the 2003 Manchester, Vt. (pop. 3,700) Film Festival.

There are reasons why it's taken this long for the movie to get a modest commercial release. Unfortunately, the timing could not be more dire for this sex-in-the-desert romp with a harrowing twist in its tale. It's set in and around a Sinai seaside resort, which now can't help but evoke unpleasant memories of last weekend's Sharm el-Sheik bombings.

Even without that connection, this purplishly written and amateurishly acted piece makes a mockery of Arab-Israeli relations by using them as a basis for exotic eroticism. And then, with an astonishing degree of nutty nerviness, the movie switches gears into a diatribe against female circumcision. A terrible practice, no question, but one that demands a more serious dramatic treatment than director Doron Eran gives it.

On top of that, screenwriters Yoav and Hanita Halevy have conjured up a story within a story, the framing portion of which is too obvious and told by actors who don't speak English very well. Their facial expressions indicate that they may not be very good when they shift into Hebrew or Arabic, either.

Liz (Razia Israeli) is an unstable, middle-age author who tracks down her runaway teenage daughter Rachel (Orly Perel) at an idyllic beach bar. Rachel has a crush on the cute Arab bartender Mustapha (Sami Samir), who turns out to have a great story to tell about an incident he observed as a youth.

We flash back to the hippie era, when European free spirits were running naked all over the place. Most nakedly stunning of all is blond Leila (Meital Duan), who bears a striking resemblance to ...

Anyway, Leila falls completely for Najim (Juliano Merr), the dashing son of a Bedouin sheik. Before you can say Rudolph Valentino - but not before Mustapha ominously intones, ``That moment, no one noticed, but the cloud hung over the moon'' - Leila's bodice gets quite thoroughly ripped. Or at least would have been, if the friendly lass possibly owned an intact bustier. Mustapha puts it this way: ``They left nothing untouched, groaning like wild animals.''

When the already (perhaps multiply) married Najim brings Leila home, the folks are predictably not pleased to meet the blond outsider. He insists that she's the love of his life; they start murmuring about ``purification.'' Back in the present, Liz gets more and more freaked out by Mustapha's tale.

Some lovely desert landscapes and equally gorgeous expanses of flesh give ``God's Sandbox'' whatever watchability there is to claim. Whole groups of people may likely find both its sexual exploitation and moral grandstanding insulting. Intelligent moviegoers are sure to be the most aggrieved.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

GOD'S SANDBOX - One and one half stars

(Not rated: nudity, sex, violence, language, drug use)

Starring: Meital Duan, Juliano Merr, Razia Israeli, Orly Perel, Sami Samir.

Director: Doron Eran.

Running time: 1 hr. 26 min.

Playing: Fallbrook 7, West Hills; Music Hall, Beverly Hills.

In a nutshell: Soft-porn nonsense involving an Israeli hippie chick and a Bedouin prince turns out to have a statement to make about - yikes! - female circumcision. Good sex, bad acting, pretty desert mountains. Mainly in English; some Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.