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'Silent
Light' a change of pace
Reygadas
offers calm, moving tale of faith |
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By STEVEN
SNYDER - TimeOut Film Critic
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November 13,
2009 |
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Here is a moving, heartbreaking
story, about souls trapped on Earth while they think only of the
heavens. It’s a story about a crisis of faith, a crisis of
love and how fear and guilt can render men insane.
All playing out in a hushed whisper.
"Silent Light" surveys the fallout of two families
upended by three star-crossed lovers. We meet Johan (Cornelio
Wall Fehr) and Esther (Miriam Toews) as they preside silently
over morning prayer and a family breakfast in a remote Mexican
Mennonite community.
The scene is an image of calm, contemplative purity – a family
of nine breaking bread as the seconds tick by (each of which can
be heard on a nearby ticking clock). But when mom packs up the
kids and heads into town, dad sits back down and begins to bawl.
But all is not well in the land of the pure.
Johan has fallen hopelessly in love with Marianne (Maria
Pankratz), the wife and mother of another perfect family. And as
Johan confesses his adulterous affections to his father, it’s
clear that this father of seven knows not what to do. As Johan
puts it, he knows that God has bound him to Esther, but how can
it possibly be serving the will of his master, to turn away from
a love that seems so holy?
We see the emotions flow when Johan and Marianne meet one day in
a wide open field, the setting sun shining through them as they
hold each another in secret – hidden from everyone but the
Creator.
That intimate scene of ecstasy contrasts sharply with a later
scene in a field, when Johan and Esther – to whom he has told
everything – finally accept the fact that their relationship
must end. As she clings to a tree in a downpour, Reygadas pushes
closer and closer with his camera, demanding from Esther the
guttural cries of a woman who has lost everything.
Whereas Hollywood would typically film such a scene of loss with
copious edits and a soaring orchestral score, Reygadas remains
fixed on a broken face for what feels like an eternity.
A death among this love triangle changes everything. What once
for Johan was a formal, philosophical debate about hearts and
faith has now become tangible. A person has died due to his
infidelity, and the guilt rushing up from within is clearly
staggering.
What once for Johan was a warm and loving sun and a rolling and
hopeful landscape have instead become harsh and claustrophobic.
During one late embrace in "Silent Light," a character
reaches up to blot out the glare of the sun, shielding the
moment from judgment by the heavens.
Those unfamiliar with Reygadas’ works, one of the most
exciting Mexican filmmakers working today, may not realize the
degree to which "Silent Light" is a change of pace for
the young director.
The richly-stylized "Japon" captured the country’s
social ills with the story of a suicidal artist and the
uneducated country woman who winds up teaching him a thing or
two about character. The provocative "Battle of
Heaven" was startling precisely for its lack of narrative
and performances that were utterly stripped of expression –
not to mention its explosive, gratuitous sexuality.
His progression towards minimalist filmmaking has reached
perfection with "Silent Light," which was the
co-winner of the 2007 Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
It does not tell us things so much as observe in silence,
meditating on the meaning of all these silly mortals, focused
only on the afterlife.
E-mail: SnyderReviews@hotmail.com
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