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Of sounds afar
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The engaging German film Beyond Silence spoke of sounds that we don’t normally comprehend
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ENJOYABLE The film was at once moving and insightful
Fairy-like imaginative and grainy shots are taken below the ice – at a level where sound takes on a different plane beyond human comprehension. And as the camera swims closer towards the ice-surface, human sounds become clearer as people skate
on the ice-surface. Caroline Link’s Oscar-nominated “Beyond Silence” (1996), a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable German film was screened at the Max Mueller Bhavan last week to a packed audience. We are introduced to Lara’s precociousness when she answers her grandmother’s phone call and gives her a different version of her hearing impaired parents’ excuses not to visit her. Her role as the ‘messenger’ in different situations is humorous and is best described by her father when he asks, “What would we do without you and your ears?”
Fast-paced creative shots in vivid blues and oranges run through the entire film whether it were the zoom-in shots of Lara’s classroom, or the surreal shots of cotton-snow falling.
When Lara and her mother, Kai communicate in sign-language through the window, it becomes an effective and secret code and tool for communication. The actress, played by Tatjana Trieb delivers a brilliant and insightful performance, demonstrating a maturity beyond her years. Flashback shots of the father, Martin played by deaf American actor, Howie Sago when he was young were purposely slow and stretched out. It is further topped with the young Martin’s hollow shouts of protests when he was dragged out of his sister, Clarissa’s much-awaited clarinet performance.
Here, we are initiated to the jealousy and misunderstanding between brother and sister, which is heightened as Martin cannot grasp the hype around Clarissa’s celebrated talent. This further hurts and troubles him when Lara herself who emulates her aunt, picks up the clarinet and goes on to become a talented musician.
The scene of the church-service for the hearing impaired adults and children is evocative when the pregnant Kai’s water bag bursts (played by deaf French actress Emmanuelle Laborit) and it is only her daughter who hears her cries. The scene where she, with great difficulty, wobbly rides a cycle just to please her daughter is touching. This even becomes the cause of Kai’s death later in the movie.
When the entire family battles over Lara’s decision to study music in Berlin and leave her parents, Clarissa insensitively remarks, “Lara shouldn’t be handicapped just because her parents are.”Also, sibling rivalry and envy almost repeat in the case of Lara and her sister when it comes to the attention showered on her and her music, but quickly restores itself to explore a lovely sisterhood.
When she moves to Berlin, partly in attempt to shirk her familial responsibilities, Lara finds herself inevitably and inextricably connected to the world of the hearing impaired in the form of a deaf and mute teacher.
And as their relationship soars, sensual shots of the clarinet playing in the background accompany their silent coupling.
In the closing scene when Lara’s father finally comes for his daughter’s performance, the film connects and embraces through many layers – to finally break the ice between the musical world of the clarinettist daughter and disturbingly silent world of the father.
AYESHA MATTHAN
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
