Movie, "Silent Light"

This is a movie about a Mennonite community in northern Mexico. Mennonite's are a protestant christian religion and they believe they owe allegiance to God and not to any one nation. They have been persecuted in Europe (Anabaptists) and from there they have had a diaspora across the globe. This film is in low German, and spanish. Johan has a wonderful family, six children, a wonderful wife Marianne. However, he has fallen in love with a single woman, Esther. They are all members of this religious community. Johan has told his wife about Esther from the very beginning. This affair is making everyone sad, and Esther tells Johan it must stop. Johan confesses to his wife about his latest intimate moment with Esther (he had prayed that he could stop) while they are driving, and she becomes sick, jumps out of car. runs off in a rain storm, weeps, and presumably dies. At her funeral, Johan realizes how much he loved her, and how wrong his affairs with Esther was. Without spoiling the film, Johan is given a second chance to make things right.

The film is filmed with great beauty, from the opening scene watching the sun come up, to the closing scene, watching the sun set, and the night sky become brilliant.

This family (and Johan's parents, the "family" is the whole community) has something wrong with it. Instead of being harmonious, Johan's affair has introduced much sorrow and unhappiness in the family. At the beginning of the movie, Johan stops a clock from ticking, at the end of the film, Johan's father restarts the clock. Johan's affair demands that time "stop" so that the family can be healed.

The film depicts the timelessness of the land, of the lives of this community. Happiness is the well being of the community, and family, and individual happiness (gratification) is subordinated to the happiness of the community. Its as though the film is saying, we are not here on earth for our own happiness, but for the good of our community.

The scenes of farm life are so beautiful, and the soundtrack is amazing, I could hear birds, crickets throughout the film. as though these life forms are just as important as the humans, or at least they all are inhabiting the same space, share a common function. What a film! i think a masterpiece. I might buy this when it comes out on DVD so I can share it with others.

Here is the only utube trailer I could find. Oops, one more in german.