Film ‘The Silence’ from Iran

Islamabad
Director: Mohsen Makhmolbof
Lok Virsa Mandwa Film Club screened film ‘The Silence’, a co-production from Iran -Tajikistan-France for screening at Mandwa Film Club on Saturday.
Directed by Mohsen Makhmolbof in 1998, ‘The Silence’ is about dreams of a 10-years old special child. It pretty much revolves around this child, his disability, the sound and music. True, the child cannot see but in many ways that becomes insignificant.
Set in Tajikistan, our hero lives with his single mother and loves melodies. The farther abandoned the family, left for Russian, and never came back. The poverty and helplessness are core issues here. It is a world of living hand to mouth and unable to pay house rent. The landlord in these situations becomes the cruel villain. Our hero has managed to fix musical instruments and he becomes an apprentice instrument tuner to run the kitchen. What he lacks in vision, he masters it in hearing. Nature does have its compensations in many ways.
The film takes us into a world of mystery where one can go beyond one's age , experience, time and place. Music here brings out the universal theme. Philosophy of truth and humanity by icon Sufi Rumi has a part here to play. The child's contact with the world and a special considerate friend is through sound which here becomes an integral part. As the audiences, we feel the riches of life through music and sound. Many critics after watching The Silence called it a film where sound is the primary virtue.
According to director Mohsen Mackhmolbof, his religious grandmother was against listening to music. According to her "people who listen to music go to hell." This was the kind of upbringing he had to go through in his early years. He went into film making in his early twenties. Coming out of prison like other young rebels of his generation, he took to films on social issues, Sufism and poetry. From rigid Islamic themes, he later moved to liberal subjects of human interest. His major film titles include Boycott, Kandhar and Gabbeh Today it is not just him but his wife and two daughters are also major filmmakers - "all in the family".
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